Dangan Ronpets!
by Anime nerd 88
Summary: When Grape, Peanut, and twenty other pets get accepted into the famous Reach The Stars Animal Academy, they think that life has given them a great once in a lifetime opportunity. When a psychopathic bear tells them they have to kill another student to leave their new prison, however, they wonder; will they get out ok, or get betrayed by a close friend?
1. Prologue: Entrance Into Despair

Prologue: Entrance Into Despair

When I first saw the letter, I thought it was a joke, like it was something Maxie found on his dad's computer and thought it would be funny to see my reaction to it. Then Peanut saw it, got excited, and ripped it open, nearly ripping it in half.

Then he started reading it, and I thought it was an even bigger scam.

You can't blame me, though. If you know me, you would realize how understandable it is.

... And I just realized you might not know me. My name is Grape Jelly Sandwich, odd until you realize I'm a cat and my dad likes punny names. I'm purple and white (The reason I'm named Grape), my eyes are yellow, I have a blue collar with a fish tag, I am the average height, weight, and other stuff for a cat, and, since some people didn't realize it before, I am a female. Shocker, I know. Peanut is a dog that lives with me, kinda making him like a brother, and if I had to describe him, I would say that he's an innocent goofball that isn't the brightest of bulbs. He is a light shade of brown and tan, his eyes are blue, he has a red collar with a bone tag and is also the average stuff for a dog, I think. He has also been carrying around a grey messenger bag recently. Better storage than our collars, I guess.

Now you're probably wondering, "What's so special about the letter Peanut almost ripped in half?" Well, according to what the front of the letter says, Peanut and I have been accepted to Reach The Stars Animal Academy.

In case you've been living under a rock for the past few years, Reach The Stars is a school for all animals, and it's ment for the most talented pets in America, not letting in anybody that wasn't the best at a certain talent. The pets are usually called Ultimates or Super Animal School Levels, or SASL's for short. Supposedly, once you go there, you are set for life in that talent, so you can imagine how popular it is. Not even millionaires could get their untalented pets in. They usually have people scour the pets out, but apparently one of them came here this year, thought there was a bunch of talent, and made it so most of the students this year would be from Babylon Gardens. The only ones that weren't assured were the SASL Good Luck, which is chosen by a lottery that has the names of every pet in America, and another talent that one of the scouters found.

I didn't think any of it was a big deal, since I thought the chances of me getting in weren't that likely, since I don't have a really noticeable talent.

I didn't think that, until Peanut squealed like puppy that got a new chew toy.

"Grape! We're in! We got in!" he said, with a huge grin on his face.

"Wha-Let me see that!" I said, swiping it from his hands. My eyes skimmed over it, expecting to see something that proved it was a fake, but I didn't find any. Instead, I found out our titles.

Peanut Butter Sandwich: SASL Reader

This was understandable, since Peanut could read the entire _Pridelands_ series in a day. Then there was me.

Grape Jelly Sandwich: SASL Good Luck

My first thoughts, luck? Really? I'm the SASL Good Luck? I may as well have been named SASL Normal Pet. Then I realized, who cares? I'm getting in!

"Oh… my… gosh… We're in!" I said, a silly grin on my face as well.

We immediately went to Mom and Dad, who got excited too. They had us start packing our things quickly, since the letter said to get to the airport for a plane as soon as possible. While packing, I wondered who else got accepted. The letter only said me and Peanut were accepted, but it didn't mention anybody else. I asked Peanut what he thought, and he said he could ask Tarot, but Dad said there wasn't enough time.

The rest is kind of blurry. I remember a car ride, tearful goodbyes shared at the airport, a LONG plane ride, then…

"Wow. We're actually here." Peanut says, eyes wide as we're standing in front of the school.

I have to agree with him. The school looks pretty amazing. Intimidating as well. But even so, knowing Peanut would be here with me, it feels a little less scary.

"Yeah. We better get inside, though, before they start thinking we got kidnapped or something." I say, breaking my gaze away to look at Peanut. "You ready?" I ask him.

"I think." he says, still staring at the school.

"Well then, let's go!" I say as I go through the gates and-

Oh god, I think I'm gonna vomit. And the world's getting all blurry. What's going?!

"Peanut…"

"Grape!"

Sadly, the last thing I'm seeing is my best friend looking like he is going to pass out as well.

God, I still feel like I'm gonna throw up. Wait, where am I?!

I lift my head to see that I'm in what seems to be a nurse's, er, vet's office, with everything being completely white, from the ceiling and the cabinets that I have no hope of reaching, to the polished tiled floor and the counters that are about my height. The only things that are off are the monitor and camera in one corner of the ceiling. I'm on one of those metal tables with thin paper separating me from the actual table. Thank goodness. Someone else must've seen Peanut and I and took us here. I'll be sure to thank them after I wake up…

That's not Peanut in the rolly bed. I think it's one of the Mr. Bigglesworths, a group of blue-eyed siamese cats that share the same name thanks to an owner that can't tell them apart. My theory is proven correct when I spot their brown collar with a silver B as the tag. I think this one's a female, but it's always so hard to tell.

Well, I may as well wake them up. I give a little shake, to see if it helps. "Come on," I say,"Wakey, Wak-"

"Get your paws off me, Biggles!" They say as the quickly get up and grab my paws. "Wait, you're not one of my brothers…"

"Yeah, and I'm sure that's not your bed. Want to say anything else that's obvious before you let go of my hands?" I ask, a little irritated. They let's go as they let rub the back of their head awkwardly.

"Sorry, but with brothers like mine, a girl's gotta keep one eye open when she sleeps." Ok, good to know she's a girl.

"So, I can tell you're a Bigglesworth, but I have to ask, how did you get in the school?" I ask, just slightly curious.

"Well, I don't blame you for not knowing my trade, so I'll spare you a lecture. This Bigglesworth was named the SASL Go-Cart Racer. She also prefers to just be called B, thank you."

Mr. Bigglesworth: SASL Go-Cart Racer

Right, I think I have heard of her. She's usually out the neighborhood, practicing at places that have a good track, and even going against some humans, and they say she's never lost a race. For some reason, her siblings all call her "Mysterious Racer B", like they have no idea she's one of them. At least, that's what Maxie says, and his information isn't always the best.

"So, since I haven't seen you at any of the tracks, who are you?"

"Oh, right! My name's Grape Sandwich, the SASL Good Luck." I say putting out my hand to shake. She takes it and- Wow, that is a strong grip!

"The SASL Good Luck? Well, what are the chances of that title going to some pet in Babylon Gardens?" she asks, a seeming to not think it was the weirder of talents.

"I'd love to figure out, but I think we should first figure out what's going on. I don't suppose you know?" I ask, slightly hopeful.

"I was hoping you had the answer, to be honest. I just know I that I passed out after stepping through the school gates."

"What? But that's what happened to me and Pean-! Frick, where's Peanut?!" I say as I start frantically searching around the room while B just stands there, looking slightly confused.

"Who's Peanut?"

"The dog that I live with. I came here with him, then I passed out, and now I have no clue where he is, and it doesn't help that it looked like was going to pass out as well, and I just have no idea what to do!" I practically yell out of frustration. B then walks over to one of the counters and picks up a paper I ignored.

"Maybe he's in the gym?" she asks after a few seconds.

"Why do you say that?" I ask, looking over her shoulder at the paper.

"Because the paper you ignored says everyone needs to meet in the gym by 8:00." she says, handing me the paper, "Along with… other things…"

What is that suppose… well, someone is very vulgar. Also, I never thought I would see curse words written in crayon.

"So, should we get going?" I ask, setting the paper back down.

"I don't really have anything better to do, so sure." She says as she looks up at one of the walls. "But I hope you don't want us to be on time. According to that clock, we're 10 minutes late."

"What?!" I look at the clock. Frick, we are 10 minutes late! "Then we gotta hurry!" I say as grab her paw and run out the door into the hall. It's very… unique, with very ornate white columns that look like they're made out of marble and black and white tiles, the white ones turned bright orange thanks to colored lights on the ceiling.

"Hey, just because you're not one of my brothers, doesn't mean you can take my paw like that!" B snaps as she takes said paw back.

"Sorry, but we need to hurry!" I say, still freaking out. I start checking some of the doors in the hallway, only finding a couple classrooms and an AV room. "Where is this stupid gym?!"

"You're not the best under stress, are you?" B asks as she points toward the a pair of red double doors that say… well, I feel like an idiot.

"Let's just go in now and forget that happened." I say, a blush already creeping onto my face. She opens the door, revealing smooth wooden floors, wooden bleachers that are pushed up against the pure white wall, and a very high ceiling, even for humans. It also shows quite a few familiar faces. Including…

"Peanut!"

"Grape!"

I run and hug him, not even caring about the other the others watching.

"I was so worried!" I say, clinging to him.

"So was I." he says, doing the same.

"Now," I move my hands to his shoulders, "Where the frick were you?!" I yell as I shake him.

"Hey, hey! Now, now is not the time for that!" a tan dog with dark brown ears and a brown spot on his right eye says as he separates me from Peanut. With the police vest, sunglasses hiding orange eyes, and the 'F' on the collar's tag, both the collar and tag being green, it's obvious that he's Fido Byron. It's also obvious how he got here, with the police vest.

Fido Byron: SASL K-9 Officer

"Well, I'm sorry, but when you leave the vet's office and don't leave a note for your passed out best friend, they tend to get a little angry!" I yell, giving Peanut a few dirty looks while doing so.

"Well, I wasn't lucky enough to wake up in this vet's office!" Peanut says, a frown prominent on his face.

"What? But according to Grape, you two passed out in front of the school like I did. Why wouldn't you have been in there with us?" B asks, now curious.

"How about the fact that most of us either woke up in a desk or on the floor of the hallway?" says a British accent. My eyes find a blue-eyed female saluki with a bright yellow collar and the British pound symbol being the tag. She's the only one that I don't recognize. Wait…

"Are you implying that everyone here passed out at the front gate?" I ask, kinda getting nervous.

"Oh, yay! You figured something out right after I gave you the main clue for it! Bravo!" she says mockingly. Isn't she pleasant?

"Hey, if we wanted to be insulted by a stuck up dog, we could've gone to a dog show." B says in my defense.

"Even if the stuck up part were true, if you knew my title, you would know that you would just see me there anyway." She says haughtily, "After all, I am Duchess, the SASL Dog Pageant Queen!"

Duchess: SASL Dog Pageant Queen

Right, I think I actually have heard of her. I believe she is Bino's girlfriend, and is the reason why that dog King doesn't go near Bino's house any more, even for the G.O.D. Club. Other than that, I have heard nothing about her.

"Yeah! Watch your mouth, you mangy cat!" says the dog next to Duchess. His fur is mostly tan, other than his tail and ears, which are a dark brown. His collar is as green as his eyes and his tag is a diamond with a 'B' on it. Speak of the Devil and he will appear, I guess. Bino is basically one of the most annoying dogs in Babylon Gardens, with an extreme hatred, or at least dislike, of cats and a need to be in charge of all the dogs in the neighborhood. Considering how well his club, The Good Old Dogs Club, is going, I think I can guess how he got here.

Bino Costner: SASL Club Leader

"I'm pretty sure that we shouldn't fight at the moment… I think…" says a white and brown dog with pink eyes. She has weird heart in her fur and one piercing in her right ear, and a pink collar holding a pink heart tag. Like Fido, Sasha here is easy to recognize, especially since she had a very long on and off relationship with Bino, and considering the fact that I keep seeing her in movies and on TV now, I can tell she probably got here from acting.

Sasha: SASL Actress

"She's right. We need to know what's going on. We are supposed to meet here, right?" Fido asks.

"No, we were supposed to meet on the roof. Of course we meet here, you dolt!" Duchess yells.

"Yes, because fighting is the best answer at the moment." says a black cat. Her collar and ankh tag match her yellow eyes. So, Sabrina got accepted as well. I think I can guess what for, considering how well she was able to talk with that ghost that one Halloween.

Sabrina: SASL Medium

"Um, I th-think I agree. I d-don't think we should be fighting right now…" says a timid voice that seems kinda familiar, but I haven't heard it in a while. Wait!

"Res?" I ask, looking in the direction of the voice.

"O-oh! Grape!" he says, obviously surprised. The yellow-eyed grey cat with the pale yellow collar and maple leaf tag starts walking towards me as he states, "I didn't think you would be here."

"I think I could actually say the same. Unless Ms. Auburn told the school about the truth about you-know-what, I have to ask, how did you get in?"

"Well…" Res says as he rubs his head sheepishly. No way…

"She actually admitted it?!" I yell, completely shocked.

"Y-yeah. Now I'm here, as the SASL Author…"

Res Auburn: SASL Author

In case you haven't heard, and I know you haven't, this is Res Auburn, the real author of _The Pridelands_ series. Though Ms. Auburn's name is on the cover, the only reason it's there is because Res is kinda shy and wanted her to take the credit for writing it.

"Who admitted what?" Sasha asks, confused as usual.

I look at Res for a sign of approval, and when he responds with a slight nod, I say, "This is Res Auburn, the true author of _The Pridelands_ series!" while I put an arm around his shoulders.

Suddenly, I'm thrown to the side by two off-white blurs, one tan blur, and a black blur. When I manage to get my face off the floor, I see that the blurs were three cats and a dog.

"Is that true? Is that _seriously_ true?! You're the real author of the books?!" B asks with wide eyes, her face showing complete shock.

"It has to be true! Grape wouldn't lie about that, she's a big fan, too! That means… OH MY GOSH!" gushes a grey-eyed, off-white cat with a couple of light brown spots. Even though we don't talk much, Fiddler wasn't hard to recognize, especially with her black collar with a violin tag. You can probably tell what her talent is.

Fiddler: SASL Violinist

"You… you are seriously my favorite author _ever_! N-no one else could even _compare_ themselves to you!" bellows the black cat with grey eyes and a white collar, a couple of piano keys hanging from it to form the tag. Similar to Fiddler, I haven't seen Keys in a while, but I did kind of expect both of them, given their musical talents. It was nice to see that both halves of the couple had gotten in.

Keys: SASL Pianist

"I knew it! I _always_ knew it! There was no way that a human could write through the eyes of a cat so well! It _had_ to be a cat!" exclaims the only dog in the group. With a fur pattern matching Fido's, except the spot being on the left eye, he was a bit smaller than the cats surrounding Res, and didn't seem to mind that he was the only canine in the group. From his light blue collar hangs a green diamond with a 'J' on it, and on his forehead lies a pair of light blue goggles that match with his light blue eyes. Joey is a weirdo that I can recognize, as he has been a part of several over our pretend sessions. Why he is here, I have only one guess.

Joey: SASL Roleplayer

"G-grape?" Res whimpers weakly.

I have to make a face at him in response, "Sorry, but I'm not crazy enough to get in the way of rabid fanboys and fangirls." While Res is getting carried away by the small mob, I decide to try and apologize to Peanut for earlier. While walking, I see that there are three other canines with him. One is Tarot, a golden-furred pomeranian with yellow eyes, a red collar, and a green tarot card as the tag. It's obvious that she has gotten in thanks to her psychic abilities, even if they've been weakened or whatever it was.

Tarot: SASL: Psychic

The other two canines with Peanut are the tallest animals in the room, understandable since they're both grey-furred wolves. Their blue eyes are a similar shade, but their body types help tell the difference between them, one have a slightly slimmer, more feminine body, along with piercings on both ears and a necklace of pearls. Lucretia I can recognize, even though I haven't seen her in a while, but I can't tell who the other one is. I had only met Lucretia and her husband, Miles, and their cubs a few times, and I never really thought there were many others with them, other than that corgi King and his wife Bailey.

"Hey, Peanut," I say, grabbing his attention.

"Grape!" Peanut happily yells, running over with what seems to be a death grip on the wolves. Tarot followed behind at a slower pace. "I know you met Lucretia," Peanut continues as he lets go of Lucretia," But did you meet Elaine?" He lets go of the other wolf.

"Can't say I have," I reply, shaking the Elaine's now outstretched paw. Though it was a nice gesture, her face seemed to suggest she was frustrated to be here. Considering she's not looking at me though, I don't think she's upset at me. I try to grab her attention by saying "So how exactly did you two get in this school?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm a midwife." Elaine states when her eyes lock on me, her expression softening.

Elaine Milton: SASL Midwife

Wait, what?

"Um, sorry, but what's a midwife?" I inquire, hoping that I'm not blushing. I feel like I've heard the term before, but I just can't put my finger on it.

"I help deliver babies." Elaine says nonchalantly. Ah, that's it. So, I guess... she's really good at her job? I don't know, I can't make comments on all of them.

"As for myself," Lucretia says to make my attention shift to her, "I am here as a 'Feral Pioneer'. Supposedly it has something to do with our family living in a house rather than in the wild."

Lucretia Milton: SASL Feral Pioneer

I guess that one makes sense. According to what I've heard, their family is the only one where ferals are able to live like humans. Well, the only one that wasn't arrested or anything. Apparently a bunch of feral families have tried to integrate into society before, but thanks to the fact that they were only doing it so they could get in touch with human criminal life easier, they were forced to face the consequences of their actions.

There's only one thing that bothers me though, "Sorry, but why did you get accepted? It was Miles who tried to get you guys your current life and ended up running into one of the Milton ferrets, so wouldn't it be him here instead?"

"According to the letter, it was thanks to the baby shower I had planned. It had just put me above Miles in the area of integrating with human life." Lucretia answers with a smile. I don't mention the fact that my mom was at that party and told Peanut and I how it went. Long story short, the vomiting was not morning sickness.

"Well, I'm glad it was Lucretia. She's a fiercer bodyguard, in my opinion." says a feminine voice from behind me. I turn and see four ferrets walking our way, three males and one female. The girl has white head fur and yellowish whitish body with yellow eyes and a pink collar. One of the boys is pure white fur and collar wise, with pink eyes covered by yellow star-shaped sunglasses. He also seems to have a jacket made entirely out of diamonds.

Turning my attention two the other two, I see that one of them has whitish blue fur on his head and paws, dark greyish blue for the upper part of his chest, and light greyish blue for the rest of his body. Along with his green collar, he has on a red baseball cap. The final ferret is mostly brown with his head being a very light tan, except around his grey eyes, which are hidden by a large pair of sunglasses. The area is brown as well. They all share a similar tag, that being a pill like thing.

"Well, you know what they say about a woman's scorn," Lana says in response to our stares. "Anyway, my name's Lana Milton, SASL Spokeswoman. Nice to meet you."

Lana Milton: SASL Spokeswoman

"I know who you are," I say in response as I cross my arms. "I live in Babylon Gardens, after all."

"Well sorry, but we can't remember every pet who lives there," Keene says while adjusting his sunglasses. "And if you were wondering," he points to Rock, "Director," to Pit, "Radio Host," at himself, "Eccentric."

Rock Milton: SASL Director

Pit Milton: SASL Radio Host

Keene Milton: SASL Eccentric

Everyone and their grandmother has heard of these ferrets. The Milton ferrets are the only animals in the world that own a company that is worth billions and billions of dollars thanks to their dad leaving it to them in his will. I can believe the first three since they're the only ones who could have those talents, but one of them confuses me. "Eccentric? What is that supposed to mean?"

"That I'm rich and I do 'crazy' stuff with my money." Keene answers almost automatically. He then grumbles, "I don't really see how trying to liberate animals and make them all equal is crazy, though…"

"I think it's more your methods of getting that, Keene." Lana states bluntly.

"Or everything else you spend money on." Rock continues.

"Yes, because I'm the only one that buys ridiculous things on a whim." Keene replys as he throws a glare their way. Well, I assume he does. It's hard tell with those big sunglasses.

"Point is, Darling," Pit says as pushes past his siblings. "We are trying to get to know a bit more on the others here, and you're one of the last few animals we need to properly meet. Well, you and that black cat behind you." he finishes as he points behind me. Wait, what?!

"You just had to ruin my fun, didn't you?" Despite the impromptu warning from Pit, the voice manages to make me jump jump a foot or two. When I land, I turn to see a male black cat with a grey underside and aquamarine blue eyes. The blue collar with a yellow bell tag and the noticeable chunk taken out of his right ear make him easy to identify. Especially since if I forgot Maxie, my own boyfriend, I think I could be labeled as an amnesiac and not be upset. I can also tell how he got here, at least considering the new light blue button on his collar that says 'The True Party Master'.

Maxwell Costner: SASL Party Planner

"Maxie!" I yell at him, not even bothering to try and keep my voice low. "We've already talked about this! No sneaking up on anyone! Well, not everyone of course, but at least not me!"

"Sorry, but it was the perfect opportunity! It's not like I get to see you caught off guard that often." he says as he grabs and plays with my tail.

I do the same in response and make a devilish grin as I say, "Fine, but I now suggest you watch your back and sleep with one eye open. You won't know when I'll pounce, but I will."

He gulps as nervousness becomes apparent on his face. "O-okay, s-sorry." he says, definitely regretting his decision. He coughs and tries to regain his cool and confident demeanor as he asks, "So, how did you get accepted, Sweetheart?"

Ah, the dreaded question that was bound to come sooner or later. Tentatively, I answer, "I… got picked in the lottery. SASL Good Luck." Unsurprisingly, there's at least a little laughter. Quite a bit from Bino, who must have overheard the conversation, and a chuckle came from Maxie. "You do realize how big of a hole you're digging for yourself, right?" I question. It gets him to shut up, at least. Bino on the other hand…

"Are you serious?! Oh my dog, this is one of the best days of my life!" he wheezed out. "So you're basically the SASL Unimportant Pet, right?! This is pri-hurk!" He would've finished that sentence, if not for the blueish dark grey hand of a husky that had grabbed his collar. Her stomach, outer part of her tail, and inner part of her ears are a blueish white and her eyes are a shade lighter than the blue bandana around her neck. I don't notice this immediately though, considering what she's doing at the moment.

"For pete's sake, I thought King was kidding when he said how bad you were." she says as she shakes her head, possibly disappointed. "I usually don't don't like making first impressions like this, but if you keep that up I might sew your mouth shut. Understand?" Bino nodded rapidly in response. "Good," she says as she drops him. He scrambles behind Duchess, visibly shaking. "By the way, the name's Bailey. I got accepted as the SASL Canine Shepard."

Bailey Milton: SASL Canine Shepard

I remember her a bit. She's the only dog in Babylon Gardens is married. Me and a bunch of other pets got to be at the wedding thanks to it being sponsored by the Miltons. They would've invited people that were closer to the bride and groom, but then the only pets from Babylon Gardens that would be there would have been Sasha and Fox. Again, I guess she's the best at this talent? I have no idea.

"Grape Sandwich, and thanks for taking care of Bino." I say in response. "He can be a real prick sometimes."

"Yeah, I've heard. I hoped he wasn't as bad as I was told, though. Instead he's worse." she said with a sigh. "Oh well. No use crying over spilled milk, I guess."

"Especially when the milk is as rotten as Bino." Max says, trying to jump back into the conversation. "He is seriously the worst sometimes."

"Well, he's not that bad," says a new voice, hopefully the last animal that I have to meet. He's a rabbit, and the only one in the room. His fur is grey with a white underside and his eyes are a bright green that matches his collar. His tag is a simple purple circle with a 'Z' in it. Like Lucretia, I haven't really seen or gotten to know Zach that much, but I can still recognize him. Taking in the fact that most, if not all, the animals in the forest worship him as 'The Opener Of Ways' I can guess pretty well how he got here.

Zachary Arbelt: SASL Prophet

"And what exactly makes you say that?" Max asks, slight annoyance visible in his tone of voice.

"Well, considering he isn't the one that nearly made my heart stop on two different Halloweens, I think he's a bit nicer than you." Zach says, his tone of voice showing annoyance as well.

"Oh come on, it was funny!" Max says. "It's not like you got hurt. Not to mention you agreed to go in the haunted house the second time!"

"Anyways," I interrupt, trying to turn the subject to one of relevance. "I think I'm going to be the one here who asks the question on everyone's minds; what is going on here?!"

"I'd be happy to answer, Sweetcheeks!" says a comically high and squeaky voice from the stage on the other side of the gym. Who could that be? Wait, Sweetcheeks?!

Suddenly, from behind the podium on the stage a… stuffed animal pops up. It's a bear with the right side being white and the left side being black. The white seems nice, with a regular tiny black eye and a normal face. The black side, however, looks to be filled with cruelty and malice, having a long and toothy grin and a red scar for an eye.

"I-is that a t-t-teddy bear?" surprisingly, Res is the first one to speak.

"I am **NOT** a teddy bear!" the bear screeches.

"D-d-did that thing just talk?!" Keys understandably shrieks.

"C-calm down. There's probably a speaker i-inside of this pup's toy." Bino says while walking towards the stage.

"I am **NOT** a toy! Do I have to say that a million times?!" the bear says as he lurches in Bino's direction. How did it just-?!

"Th-that thing moved! That thing d-definitely moved!" Fiddler cries as she points toward the bear.

"I'm not a 'thing' either! I am Monokuma! Your headmaster! Or, I guess you Americans would say principal." the bear, Monokuma, says as he waves a paw at himself.

" **Puh-lease**. Like any of us would believe that." Duchess says, a look of contempt on her face.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Monokuma asks, raising a paw to his face, possibly looking confused. Hard to tell when it's mostly stuck the way it is.

"I mean, it's not like any of us can believe this is anything other than a prank." Duchess continues, crossing her arms.

"She has a point." Elaine says, contempt visible on her face as well. "Considering the students that come to this school, it is not an unbelievable idea that some of the students had set this up."

"Yeah!" Fido says, anger quite noticeable in his tone of voice. "If you're our principal, show us some proof!"

"Proof? You want some proof?" Monokuma asks in a pitying tone. "Is my word really not proof enough? What else could I tell you to convince you? That I scrambled the school staff like eggs and put myself in charge?" He let out a laugh at this statement. "I may be cruel, but I wouldn't say something like that outright!"

"L-listen, Monobear," Joey said, trying to sound confident but failing. "Wh-what's going on here?! We want answers!"

"Right! Thanks for getting me back on point, dork!" Monokuma says in response to Joey's question. "Also, while Monobear is my name in English, I prefer Monokuma."

"Dork?!" Joey shouts, clearly enraged. "Who are you calling-"

"Shut it! I need to give an explanation!" Monokuma says. After Joey calms down a bit, he clears his throat and says, "As you all know, you all are the biggest hopes for the world of animals. The cream of the crop! So, in order to protect you super stars from the corruption of the outside world," Monokuma waved his arms around at that statement, "I have decided to have you all live in this school for the rest of your lives!"

"WHAT?!" Is the word the rings through the gym.

"You heard me!" Monokuma shouts. "This is your new forever home! No place else! You're stuck here!"

"B-but do you really think we can j-just accept this?! Th-that we can just l-live here forever?!" Zach screams.

"Well, there is technically one way for you to leave." Monokuma says, his grin possibly widening.

"Alright! What is it, then?" Bailey shouts at him.

"Kill someone!" Monokuma exclaims. The sentence manages to shut everyone up. K-kill someone? What kind of joke is this?!

"Ok, that is enough." I hear from Lucretia not that far away. When I look in her direction, I only see a gray blur going towards the stage. A second later, Monokuma screeches as he is picked up by Lucretia. "This joke has gone far enough, and I would prefer that it ends now."

"Aaah!" Monokuma yells. "V-violence against the headmaster is strictly forbidden!" After saying this, he starts beeping.

Lucretia loosens her grip on him as confusion enters her face. "What the-"

"Throw it!" Tarot bellows, finally breaking her silence.

More confusion gets plastered onto Lucretia's face. "Wh-what is he-"

"Just throw it!" Tarot screams. Lucretia finally does as she says, chucking Monokuma across the gym. While in the air, Monokuma explodes, bathing the room in red and orange light and knocking all of us onto our butts. Did that- how did- he just- WHAT?!

"H-he's dead, right?" Rock asks meekly. "H-he just exploded. Th-there's no w-way he could've survived, r-right?"

"Wrong!" Monokuma says as he pops up from behind the podium again. "Do you really think that there is only one of me at this school? Upupupupupupupupu!" he giggled out. "Well, at least it gave me a good way to show you that this isn't a prank or anything!"

"Wh-what the howl was that?!" Sasha screeches, an understandably shocked look on her muzzle. "You could have killed her!"

"The point was to kill her, captain brain power." Monokuma says. "Like I said though, this ain't no prank. This is what's really happening. To get out of here, you have to kill someone! Strangulation, blunt force trauma, poison, stabbing, burning, drowning, etc. I don't care about the method, it just has to get someone dead! But I guess you can read all about it, in your new," at this statement, he pulls out a half black half white canvas bag, and pulls out a couple what looks like IPhones. "Electronic Handbooks! Or E-Handbooks for short!" He then starts handing out the handbooks. "They have profiles on every student here, all the rules for your new lives, a map of this floor, a camera, and a recorder! Also, they're pretty much indestructible, so don't worry about breaking them!"

When I get mine, I immediately turn on the thing by pressing the one button on it. I'm greeted to the words 'Welcome Grape Jelly Sandwich' being plastered to the front of the screen. When it disappears, I see that it does have all the things he described, with the recorder being on the front side and the camera on the back. I quickly check what the rules are.

 **Rule 1: Violence against yours truly is completely forbidden. Destruction of any surveillance equipment is also strictly prohibited.**

 **Rule 2: There will be a designated 'Night Time' from 10pm to 7am. During this time, certain rooms will be out of bounds to students and the water supply will be shut off.**

 **Rule 3: Students must sleep in the designated sleeping areas provided. Anyone found sleeping elsewhere will be punished accordingly.**

 **Rule 4: You can investigate whenever you want, wherever you want, but none of the locked doors may be broken into. All rooms will, however, be unlocked during investigation time.**

 **Rule 5: If one of the students kills another student (or students), will be able to "graduate" only if they are able to convince the other students that they're not the blackened and get through the class trial. If the blackened succeeds, they will be free to go to the outside world, while the rest of the students are punished, but if the blackened fails, they alone will be punished.**

 **Rule 6: At most, only two people can be killed per trial so nobody can win by mass murder.**

 **Rule 7: A 'Body Discovery Announcement' will be made after a corpse is found by three students that did not commit the deed, followed by the release of a 'Monokuma File'.**

 **Rule 8: The act of loaning and/or borrowing Electro IDs is strictly forbidden and both parties will be punished if caught.**

 **Rule 9: Additional rules may be added at any time.**

I quickly turn the thing off. I don't want to hear about this murdering rule at all. But one question about it rolls into my mind; what is a class trial?

"Anyway, that's about it!" Monokuma says when he finishes passing out the handbooks. He then runs back to the podium, and before he jumps behind it again, he says, "Seeya later! Happy killing!" And like that, he's gone.

I almost can't believe what just happened. If it weren't for the heat from the explosion and the kick back of it, I would've been convinced that I'd gone crazy. Bonkers. That I had been hit on the head with something and got a concussion. But it was real. It was terrifyingly real.

"H-he's not serious, right?" I hear Res whimper. "Th-this is some big, c-c-convoluted prank, right?"

"Sadly, that's not what is important right now." Tarot says as she gets up from sitting. Only then that I realize that most of us were still on the ground from the explosion. Myself and all the others scramble to get up as she continues, "What matters is that if anyone took it seriously."

I realize that she is right. I may know most of the people here, but not all of them I know well. Some of them could be planning a murder and I wouldn't even know it. For a while, we're all frozen there. Everyone suspecting each other, doubting one another, wondering if their friend was going to stay loyal, or betray them in the worst way.

 **Prologue: Entrance Into Despair: End**

 **Pets Left: 22**

(A.N.: Wow, this was nerve wracking! I hope you guys like this. Now, the important part. At this point in a Dangan Ronpa game, there would be Free Time Events, where the main character gets to know the other characters, and at one point a Special Event, where a bunch of the characters get together and do something. I'll deal with the Special Event later, now we have to talk about the Free Time Events, or FTE's for short. Since this isn't a video game, I need you guys to vote for who you want Grape to spend time with. You can post the votes as reviews or you can PM them to me, I'm good either way, just please make sure you vote if you want to. I will tally up the votes after a week, and the one with the most votes will get the first FTE, the second most will get the second most, and so on. There will be four FTE's total. That's all for now, and again, I really hope you guys liked this. Oh, and if you have any comments or criticisms, please PM them to me. Happy voting!)


	2. Chapter 1: Bump In The Night Part 1

A.N.: Okay. I got an astounding number of one vote, so I had to do the random drawing. Sorry if it seems random or forced, but it was a random drawing, so… *Shrugs*

Chapter 1: Bump In The Night

"Um, are we going to be standing here forever?"

Peanut is the one that breaks that breaks the suspicion filled silence, surprisingly.

"I mean, I know that this is crazy, and super scary... but standing here suspecting everyone isn't going to do us any good." He starts to smile as he says, "How about we look around the place, try and map it out a bit?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Bino screeches. "That is not even **close** to what is most important right now!"

"Actually, Peanut has a good point," Fido says, a nervous look still on his face. "We should try and look around. See if there's any kind of exit." He takes a look at his E-handbook as he continued, "We can group up in fours and meet up in the cafeteria. Does that sound like a good idea?"

"Um, wouldn't that leave two people without a group?" Zach asks timidly.

"They can just join another group." Bailey says nonchalantly. "Make it a group of five, six if need be."

"Exactly." Fido says, gaining a bit more confidence. He steals another look at the handbook before putting it in his collar and says, "I'll check out some of the class rooms. Who wants to join me?"

"You know I will." Sabrina says as she walks to Fido's side. Unsurprising, considering their relationship.

Sasha skips over to them saying, "It sounds like fun, so why not?" Again, not surprising considering the huge crush she had on Fido for the longest time, even though at the time she was still dating Bino, who at the moment was grumbling about nobody listening to him. Though now she was in a relationship with Kevin, another K-9 officer. It was a fitting match, considering they have half a brain between them.

"U-um, any chance I could join?" Zach asks as he walks toward the group.

"Of course." Fido replies. "We'll leave when the others get their groups together, ok?"

At that statement, the rest of us started getting into groups. The final groups were Fido's group, which didn't change, the Milton group, all of the ferrets with Lucretia, the all canine group of Elaine, Bino, Duchess, and Joey, another group that was Fiddler, Keys, B, and Bailey, and finally our group, me, Max, Peanut, Tarot, and Res. Max is the one who takes his handbook out of his collar and asks, "So, where will we be searching?"

"Well, how about the vet's office and the cafeteria? I was in the vet's office earlier, and it was kinda small, so I don't think it would be that hard to search through." I say when I take a look at the map that's on the handbook.

"B-but, why the cafeteria? Kinda random, to be honest…" Res says quietly.

"Well, one, the vet's office isn't that big, and I looked in there a bunch already, so I don't think we'll find anything, and two, when we're done searching, we won't have to worry about finding the cafeteria." I say in response. "What do you guys think?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me!" Peanut says as he merrily walks to the door. Tarot follows after him, going back into silence, it seems.

"I have to agree, it does sound good," Max says as he puts an arm around me. "So, what are we waiting for?"

"Currently, I'm waiting for you to get the hint that I'm still angry at you." I respond while picking his arm off of my shoulders. I grab Res' hand, causing him to visibly blush, and start walking to the exit as I say, "Now, how about we get going?"

"A-alright." Max says, clearly defeated. He follows after us with his head hanging low. While in the still odd hallway, I lead the others to the vet's office and when we get there, I realize the damage I had actually done.

"Wow! Did a tornado blow through here?" Peanut asks when seeing the overturned chairs and papers strewn about. Jeez, I didn't think I'd done this much damage. "What were you even doing in here?"

"Looking for you," I answer while looking in one of the already opened cabinets for… a secret exit, I guess? I doubt that there would be one in here. Kind of regret suggesting this room now. "It was back when I was applying logic to the situation and thinking you should've been in here too, so I don't think you can blame me."

"Th-that is a good point…" Res says as the rest of them start looking around. It doesn't take long though to realize that there isn't any kind of exit here. The only thing that we find that is kind of interesting is a couple of medical supplies that could be useful in the future.

"Well, that didn't really help much," Max states as he scratches the back of his head. "How about we get to the cafeteria now? I think we're more likely to find something useful there."

"Okay, lead the way then." is my response. He takes out his handbook and leads us to the cafeteria, a room as large as the gym with similar wood flooring, though the walls are a light yellowish color, it looks like there may be a kitchen in the back, with a door and a glass free window revealing it, and there are a bunch picnic tables around the room, and for some reason they're all made of white marble.

"Well, there's certainly a lot of room to cover." Peanut says casually. We search around the cafeteria first, and sadly find diddly squat.

"Maybe there's something in the kitchen?" I wonder aloud as I walk to the door. I open it and see that it's mostly just a smaller version of the cafeteria, appearance wise. The things in it, though, are much different; tables full of fresh food, a couple of plain white fridges, brown cabinets that us pets could actually reach, and two butchering blocks. Unsettlingly, but unsurprisingly, one block is labeled 'Cooking' and the other is labeled 'Killing'. Really starting to wish I could rip that bear a new one…

"That's a l-lot of food. Is it g-going to last, though?" Res squeaks out. I think he's the most nervous I've ever seen him. I'm not exactly shocked though, considering everything that's happening.

"Don't worry. The food that gets eaten is restocked each night. Monokuma has an endless supply." Tarot says suddenly, scaring everyone but Peanut. Why she keeps breaking her silence at random times, I can't te- wait, what?

"Hey! That was my line!" Monokuma says as he pops out of a one of the fridge's freezers, startling everyone but Tarot.

"Wait, is that true? You're not gonna try and starve us?" Max asks, sounding hopeful.

"Well, **DUH**! If I wanted to starve you all, why bother with the killing game? I mean, yeah, it would make you all suffer a long and painful death, but it isn't nearly as fun watching you kill each other!" Monokuma shouted, waving his arms about. "And by the way, don't worry about the idea of poison. I'll just give you the same example!"

"I… guess that makes sense, i-in a messed up way…" Res says quietly as he raises a finger to his chin.

"Is that all? Can you go now?" I ask angrily. At the moment, I just wish this prick would get hit by a truck. The closest I can get to that though, considering what happened earlier to Lucretia, is to get him to leave.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Monokuma says as he waves a paw at us disappears behind a counter island. What a creep.

Res starts to say, "Uh, Tarot, how did you-"

"Tarot is a psychic!" Peanut loudly interrupts. He starts counting off on his fingers while saying, "She can also communicate telepathically, project your imagination as reality, and a bunch of other stuff!"

"I use to be able to do that," Tarot says, an irritated look rolling onto her face, "But ever since I stopped being Spirit Dragon's avatar, I can no longer do that, and I expressed that to you in detail, Peanut."

"Oh, right." Peanut says, adding an awkward laugh. "Sorry."

"Well, we should probably wait 'til the others get back now." I say, trying to defuse the tension.

It manages to work as Tarot goes back to her calm self and says, "That is a good idea." She then walks over to a table and sits down, and Peanut follows her close behind, getting slightly calmer. The rest of us do the same, and we awkwardly sit in silence while waiting for the others to arrive. I absentmindedly play with waiting, still trying to wrap my head around the situation. Could this really be happening? Would someone actually…

No! Nobody here is going to murder anyone else! I'm going to try my best to make sure that everyone here survives!

"Well, looks like you guys beat us here." I hear while I'm lost in thought. I look up from my tag to see that Bailey is the one speaking, her group being the first one to arrive after us. For some reason, Fiddler and Keys looked… excited, like the had won some sort of lottery. As she and the others come and sit done as well, she says, "So, did find anything good?"

"Well, sort of." Peanut says before the rest of us get the chance to talk. "We should probably wait 'til the others are here, though."

"Eh, alright." B says with a wave of her hand, indicating that she didn't really care. Keys and Fiddler, on the other hand, seemed to deflate a little, but quickly got over whatever they were sad about and started quietly chatting with each other.

We waited for a little longer as the other groups came in. The next group to come in was the all canine group, being mostly silent during their entrance for some reason. Then there was the Milton group, who was quiet as well, and then Fido's group, who weren't speaking until they sat down at the table.

As they sat down, Fido asks, "So, what did we all find?"

"Why don't you start if you want us to share our findings?" Duchess asks back, not even looking up from the claws she was filing with a nail file.

It seems the question catches Fido off guard at first, but quickly gets back into focus again as he says, "Alright. Well, we searched through the dorm rooms and the trash room, and there were a couple of things to note."

"First there's the fact that all of the dorm rooms are lockable using keys." Sabrina says as she and the others from their group start pulling a bunch of keys out of their collars and hand them out to the rest of us. When I get mine, I see that the difference between them all is that the one blue rectangle key chain has my name on it. Well, at least I can't mistake it for someone else's key.

"Then we have the problem that every room has a weapon in it." Zach says once he's finished handing out the keys he has.

"I just don't know why those weapons would be there!" Sasha nervously shouts, electing a sigh from the majority of people in the room. "What? I just don't know!"

"D-do you not remember what M-M-Monokuma said about l-leaving?!" Res stutters surprisingly loudly.

"Oh, right." Sasha says. She lets out a slightly nervous giggle as she says, "Sorry!" Unsurprisingly, most of us facepawlm.

"So, what about the garage room?" Rock asks, trying to get back on topic. "You said your group went to the garbage room, right?"

"Right. The trash room is basically a large empty room. On one end is an incinerator and in between is a large metal grate." Fido says while he starts rummaging around in his collar again.

"Why are you telling us this?" Elaine asks. "Monokuma is the one who's in charge of this place, so wouldn't he take care of any messes here?"

"About that," Fido says as he finishes searching his collar, showing us another key, this one with a garbage bag key chain. "Monokuma said that we're going to go by some of the school rules in Japan, since apparently that's where he's from. And going by the Japanese rules, the students have to do the clean up."

"Are you serious?" Duchess growls from her seat. "Are you saying we all have to clean up this school when he tells us to?"

"No," Sabrina says as she takes the key from Fido's paw and placing it in Keys' hand. "What he's trying to say is that one of us has to take care of the garbage each night, and it rotates by the week. Sorry Keys, but he said that you start."

Keys looked a bit sad for a second, then he seems to get over it as he put the key in his collar and say, "Alright. Is there more, or can we talk about what we found now?"

"No, not really." Fido says. "Unless you want to hear abou-"

"Okay, we're changing the conversation topic!" Fiddler interrupts. "Our group found a music room!"

"How exactly is a music room going to help us get out?!" Bino barks angrily.

"Well, I'm so sorry that us finding a bit of happiness doesn't involve our escape!" says Fiddler in a sarcastic tone.

"A-anyway," B says, trying to eliminate the tension those two were making. "The music room had your basic stuff; string instruments, woodwinds, drums, and even a piano. Other than that though, not much else."

"We also found a drama room." Bailey adds. "It had masks, costumes, scripts, and a portable spot light."

Bino let out a very loud sigh. "Jeez, did **ANY** of something that could help us get out?" he says loudly.

"Ok then, what exactly did you find, Bino?" B says, getting a smirk on her face.

Apparently, he didn't expect to be asked that question, as he starts stutter stupidly, "Oh, um, well, we found, a, um-"

"We found two classrooms, and there wasn't anything special in either of them." Duchess says, helping and hurting what's left of Bino's pride.

"Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it." Joey says while he adjusts his goggles. "The only things in either of the rooms were pet sized desks, a human sized teacher's desk, and a chalk board."

"So, I guess we're up next, then." says Keene as he cleans his sunglasses with a napkin. "What we found was an AV room with about twenty two monitors, one for each of us."

"Then we checked the storage room." Lana says. "It just has a bunch of stuff that we will probably not even use, such as surf boards, track suits, and for some reason a giant model of the solar system."

Well, that's… interesting, I guess.

"And finally, it is our turn." Max says as he gestures to our group.

"Cut the theatrics and get to the point." Keene says in an agitated tone.

"Alright, alright!" Max says, getting the point."Well, we searched the vet's office first, and other than some medical supplies that could be useful if anyone is injured, there wasn't anything of interest."

"After that, we searched through here." I say as I gesture to the cafeteria. "Though there are definitely no hidden exits, we were at least able to figure out that we won't starve or be poisoned by Monokuma."

"How did you figure that out?" Sasha asks, curiosity visible in her tone of voice.

"The same way that you guys got the information about the trash room." Peanut says. "Monokuma came and told us. Well, technically Tarot told us about the food being restocked, then Monokuma confirmed what Tarot said and told us about the unlikelihood of him poisoning the food."

"And why doesn't he do that to us if he wants us to die?" Elaine questions.

"A-apparently it wouldn't b-be as fun to watch." Res says quietly. "Th-that, and it's supposedly not the point of th-this killing game."

"Well, I guess that makes sense… in a sick and twisted way." Fido says as he moves a knuckle to his chin in thought.

"So, what do we do now?" is what Bailey says. "Nobody mentioned any kind of exit, so we know that we're stuck here. So what do we do now?"

"Well, seeing as that's the truth, I guess… we'll just have to live like everything is normal." Fido says as he goes back to a neutral stance.

"Ok, _that_ is just idiotic!" Bino yells. "How the howl is living like everything is normal going to help?!"

"Bino, the other options are going back to being frozen in place, suspecting everyone around you, and panicking." Fido says as he pinches his forehead. "Now, which option sounds the best to you?"

It seems to succeed in shutting him up, as he just crosses his arms and grumbles off to the side.

"That's what I thought." Fido says, calming down. "Now like I said, we can't really do anything about the situation, so we may as well just try to live life. So, I think we can all just go and do what w-"

Before he can finish, Fiddler and Keys are both out the door, probably headed towards the music room.

"Well, it looks like they're adjusting quickly." Pit says in a tone that might be suggesting something. "I'll have to take my leave as well, however, for I must go check my the status of my wardrobe!" He then runs out of the room, presumably to his dorm room.

"We should probably go after him." Rock says as he and the other two ferrets stand up and walk towards the door. "We should stick together at a time like this. See you guys later." Then they leave.

It's not long until all of the others leave, and eventually it's just me. So, what should I do now? I could try to find Maxie and cuddle a bit, the problem with that being that I'm still kinda angry at him. I could hang out with Peanut, but he's probably with Tarot at the moment, and I don't want to be a third wheel, or the one that turns the group into a crowd. How about… I just explore? It wouldn't kill me, I could see some of the rooms for myself, and if I meet someone I could talk with them and not feel like a third wheel.

Now, the only question is, where do I go?

I pull out the handbook and open it up to the map. Like everyone said before, there's a music room, a drama room, two classrooms, the vet's office, a trash room, a storage room, an AV room, and the dorm rooms, not including the gym. I look at the map for a couple more seconds before I figure 'Eh, I don't really know Keys or Fiddler that well. Why not try to get to know them better?'

So I make my way through the odd hallway and find Keys sitting alone at a large black grand piano, playing a somber tune I don't recognize. Looking around, I see that most of the instruments that had been mentioned earlier were in their respective cases and that they, along with Keys, were the only things inside this very light blue room. Odd. I thought Fiddler was going to be here with him. Well, let's ask. "Hey Keys. How you doing?" I ask.

In response, he jumps from his seat a little bit. He turns around when he's back on his seat. "O-oh, Grape. It's you." He says as he calms down a bit.

"Well who did you think it was? The boogie man?" I question jokingly.

"Well, no, but in a place like this, and with the Monokuma guy…" He shivers at the last part. "Anyway, did Fiddler send you here?"

"Um, what?" I ask. What does that even mean?

"Well, Fiddler and I were going to start playing, but she wanted to see if anyone else was talented musically." He scratches his head a bit as he said, "She said we shouldn't be surprised when they're not as good as us, but I think they'll still be good, if there is anybody else that plays music." He lets out a sigh, "So, you don't have any musical talent then?"

"Afraid not." I say with a shrug. "I only really came to see if you wanted to hang out."

"Oh! Well, sure!" He says, a smile quickly going onto his face. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, do you think you can finish that song?" I ask. "It sounded kinda nice, to be honest."

"Well, alright." He says as he returns to the song. It's an interesting song. I think I've heard it before. It's sad, but hearing it from Keys somehow makes me feel… happy. Stupid, I know, but it's true.

Once he's finished, he turns around and asks, "So, what do you think?"

"I'm thinking 'How is it possible for a sad song to make me feel happy?'" I answer.

He lets out a laugh in response. "Well, that's the first time I've _that_ kind of response!"

"H-hey!" I shout. "What do you expect me to say when it's from you?! Your talent is playing the piano!"

"Touche, I guess." He say as he puts a paw on his cheek. "You said you wanted to talk, right? About what?"

I put a claw to my chin while I think for a second. "How about… The reason why you play the piano? I've kinda wondered why you and Fiddler play music, and I haven't asked before, so why not now?"

"Well, how about because we've been put in a killing competition?" He asks, now looking a little nervous at the thought of the game.

"To be honest, that just kinda makes me more motivated. To get to know you and the others more, I mean." I say with a small awkward laugh.

He let out a sigh before responding, "To be honest, it's mostly because of our owners."

"Oh, so they inspired you?" I ask, thinking I was right.

"N-no," He says while scratching the back of his head. "It's more like they pushed us to be musical… A lot…"

"Oh." I say, unsure of how I should respond.

"I-it wasn't that bad!" He quickly says, waving his arms a bit. "It was mostly that, when I had free time, I would play the piano." He scratched the back of his head again. "It was kinda hard at first, but then Fiddler came along and, well," He does a one armed shrug. "I didn't really mind anymore."

"Cute." I say as I lean against the piano. "But now I have another question. What is with your's and Fiddler's relationship? I mean, I get that you're a couple, but you two just seem kinda… stressed sometimes, like it's a strained relationship."

"Well, that's kind of like most relationships for musicians, in all honesty." He answers, continuing with the head scratching. "And it doesn't help that you're usually around at some bad moments."

"Wait, seriously?" I ask, I little skeptical. What even are those chances?

He starts to list off things on his fingers. "Well, there was the first Yarn Ball you went to, where I kept bringing up songs involving the night, then there was our date at Heathcliff's, where it felt like Fiddler was suffocating me, the big water war where Fiddler and I were kinda teasing Zach, and finally the release of the third Pridelands book, and even if it wasn't a real spoiler, I still won't apologize to Max." He crossed his arms and turned away at that last one.

"Yeah, don't worry," I say with a shrug. "I think he's gotten over it. So, what about the times I'm not around?"

"Well, we're usually playing songs. Like when Theme Park World opened. At one point we found a gazebo, and we decided to play The Irish Washerwoman song. Then there was the time we managed to make a raft and played a sailing song, not to mention some of the concerts we've done-"

"Keys!" I hear a feminine voice shout from the door. We turn to see Fiddler standing there with Sasha. "Oh, hey Grape. I didn't find you during my search, so I figured you were in your room. So, you can play an instrument?"

"No," I say as I start walk away from the piano. "I was just keeping Keys company. I won't bother you guys." I walk past them and towards the door as I say, "See you later Keys!"

"Alright. See you later!" Keys says with a wave of his hand. As I leave the room, I feel like Keys and I have gotten a little bit closer. So, I think, what should I do now?

I hadn't really thought of what to do after talking with Keys, so I'm not sure what to do now. I pull out the handbook and take a look at the map. Eh, why not the AV room? None of the other rooms seem that interesting, so why not? I make my way over to the dark blue door with disc on the front and open it. In it I see a dark room with a bunch of black tables with built in monitors. There's also a giant screen on the wall opposite to the door. Surprisingly, there's another person here: Tarot. She's crouching down, looking under a table. If it had been regular sized, she could've just walked under it, but it was another thing that was resized for us pets, so the only ones that might be able to walk under regularly would be the ferrets.

"Hey, Tarot." I say, trying to grab her attention. "Are you looking for something?"

"Yes," She said, not even looking up. "It seems that whoever has held us captive here has either stolen or misplaced my Crystal Tab 9000. I have checked my room already, and Peanut is currently searching the store room, so I thought that this room is the next most likely place for it to be."

"I guess that makes some sense." I say as I start walking over to her. "Do you want any help?"

"Sure," She says, a happyish tone now going into her voice. "It may be easier with help."

We search around for a while, looking under the other tables, checking small compartments that are slightly hidden, and a bunch of other places. Sadly, we aren't able to find it.

"Well, sorry Tarot, but I don't think it's here." I say with a scratch of my head.

"I see." She says as she gets up from looking under another table. "Well, guess it can not be helped. With luck, hopefully Peanut has found it."

"Tarot, another question." I say before she thinks about leaving. "Why is it do you need this Crystal Tab? You seemed to do well without it earlier."

"It is quite simple, Grape." Tarot says, small smile on her face. "With the Crystal Tab, I can get accurate predictions very quickly, and not to mention it gives me predictions that are important."

"Um, I think Lucretia wouldn't say the same, considering the fact that you saved her life." I say.

"Oh, let me rephrase that," Tarot says, a bit of surprise in her voice. It's quickly diminished though as she says, "I mean that, alone, I can only see random things that might be important, whereas the Crystal Tab gives me specific predictions that I know will be very important, such as who could be holding us here, or warning anyone that could be a victim."

The last part sends a shiver down my spine. "D-don't worry, I'm sure that none of us will kill anyone else." I say nervously.

"Sadly, we can not be sure about that." Tarot says, her face going emotionless. "Though we would like to trust the people we know, we won't know if they will kill or not until they do."

"D-don't say that!" I yell, very shocked. "We can't just doubt each other, especially now!"

"I am not saying we should doubt each other," Tarot says as she starts to walk towards the door. "I'm saying that we shouldn't assume things when there is no proof for the assumption."

"But there _is_ proof for the assumption!" I shout. "I've known the majority of these animals since I was a kitten, and I know they wouldn't kill anyone!"

"And the others?" She asks as she turns to me.

"W-what about the others?" I ask nervously.

"What about the others that you didn't know from kittenhood?" She asks, trying to be more specific. "You said that you've known most of the animals here since you were a kitten, and that you know they wouldn't kill anyone, but there is still the few that you have not known for that long, or you only just met here. What do you think they are going to do?"

"I-I…" I take a deep breath before I can respond, "Can you please be quiet? This is… not what I need to hear right now."

"O-oh." Tarot says, a little crestfallen. "Sorry. I've never been good with these kinds of topics, or putting them in a nice way. Dragon was much better at it, in all honesty."

"I… guess it's alright." I say, trying to forgive her. Like with Keys, I now feel a little closer to Tarot now, so I say, "Just… try not to talk about those things. Just let some of the others handle them instead."

"That is wise." She says, the small smile returning to her face. "Now, I should probably see how Peanut is doing."

"Good idea." I say as I walk over to the door with her. "Who knows, maybe he found-" Before I can finish my sentence, as I open the door out of the AV room, someone falls on the floor in front of us, like they were going to open the door but then I opened it before them, causing this to happen. I quickly recognize that the other animal is Peanut, looking up at us with a slightly surprised look in his eyes. "Oh, hey Peanut. Did you manage to find the Crystal Tablet thing?"

"No," He answers, a little downtrodden. "The only thing I could find that was made of crystal was Pit's jacket, and I knew that wouldn't help. Also, when did start help looking for it, Grape?" The last part he asks curiously.

"I joined a little bit ago." I answer casually. "I had come in the AV room out of boredom, found Tarot, and decided, 'Hey, why not?'"

"Well, alrighty then!" He says, a smile going to his face as well. "So, do you think there are any-"

"Hey, helllllllllo!" Before Peanut can finish, he's interrupted by Monokuma's voice coming over the loudspeaker. "Everyone listening? Okay! Everyone come to the gym! I have a super duper important announcement for you all!" And with that, his voice is gone again.

"Well, I guess we have to go." I say, trying to remain calm on the outside. As I leave the room, Tarot and Peanut follow and surprisingly, they're both silent on the way to the gym.

A.N.: Okay, I hope you guys enjoy this! I don't know when I'll be able to make the next part, but I'll try not to take too long.

Again, I hope you enjoy it!


	3. Chapter 1: Bump In The Night Part 2

Part 2

When we finally get to the gym, we see that we are the last ones to arrive. Everyone else has been here patiently waiting.

Well, most of them are patient.

"What's been taking you so long?" Duchess asks, a bit of annoyance visible in her tone of voice.

"Sorry. We weren't exactly close to the gym." I answer, pointing out the fact that the AV room is over halfway across the school. It's a weird floor plan, with the dorms in the middle and the other rooms just spread out at random locations. The other rooms I understand, but you'd think that the dorms would be on one side or the other.

"Anyway, we should get to the point of why we're here." Fido says, pulling the attention toward him and then toward the podium.

"Rightio, Sunglasses!" Monokuma says as he pops up from behind the podium and lands on it. "So, while you all were getting know each other better and whatever, I was a wonderin'; why isn't anyone even planning a murder?"

"Because we don't want to kill our friends or family?" Max asks, arms crossed in annoyance.

"Uh, NO!" Monokuma shouted. "There are plenty of people here that you don't know, or not that well, at least. No, what you all need is something simple: a motive!"

"A motive? What do you have that could make us want to kill each other?" Fido questions, anger definitely in his tone.

"Well, for this first one, I decided to go easy on you guys." Monokuma answers as he pulls a multitude of envelope's from inside the podium. It seems they're mostly color coordinated, with them following the fur patterns of everyone here. Even if there's a chance someone grab someone else's envelope, they could still get it to the right person via the name that's on the front. "So, I'm giving you these!" Monokuma finishes as he throws the envelopes into the air. They slowly drift down to the floor, causing us to wait a minute before we get one.

Once they're all on the floor, everyone tries quickly to get their own envelope. When I manage to get my purple and white envelope, I use a claw to tear it open. What I see is kind of surprising.

It's an old picture of my family, the day when they adopted me. A puppy version of Peanut is licking the face of the kitten version of me while Mom and Dad are laughing behind us. I… don't understand.

"Um, how is this a motive?" B asks as she hold up a picture showing what looks to be the entire Bigglesworth clan and their mom. "It's just picture of my family."

"Exactly!" Monokuma says with a weird bit of joy in his voice. "The first motive is reminding you guys what you've left behind!" He gets off the podium and waddles over to B, causing her to flinch a bit, "It could be your siblings," he goes to the ferrets, who all back away, causing him to be a foot away from them, "It could be direct family," he walks to Bailey, who scowls at him, "It could be the love of your life," and finally, he comes to me and Peanut, electing a whine from him and a scowl from me, "Or it could just be your 'parents'. In any way, there is still someone out there that you care about, and would probably like to see again." He let out a weird cackle as he ran back to the podium and jumped behind it, disappearing yet again.

"So, any advice for this?" Fiddler asks while looking at Fido.

All eyes go to him as he sighs, puts his photo in his collar, and says, "Sadly, there's still nothing we can really do at the moment. We'll just have to stay calm and try not to panic."

A few people let out a grumble while most of us put our pictures in our collars, with Lucretia and Elaine not doing so because of their lack of collars, and Peanut getting a bit closer to me to show me his picture. It's the same one that I have. "Um, d-didn't we only have one of these?" he asks, his voice a little shaky.

"Uh, yeah, actually," I answer as I take the photo from his paws, kinda confused. Now that I think about it, this photo is suppose to be above our fireplace. "W-why did he have it?!"

"That'll be explained later maybe!" Monokuma shrilly yells over the intercom. Either he's really good at reading lips or there are microphones around that we can't see.

"Maybe we should try and relax a bit right now," I say as I hand Peanut back his photo. "You can hang with Tarot while I take a nap."

"Is taking a nap really the best idea right now?" Peanut asks, tilting his head and raising a finger to his chin.

"What, do you think I'll sleep in the storage room or something?" I counter.

He starts to shake his arms a bit and says, "N-no, I don't, I-I just-"

"Good. It is against the rules, after all." I say, pulling out the handbook for a second before stuffing it back in my collar. "Now try to relax in your way so I can relax in mine!"

Peanut says, "But Tarot's already-"

"Peanut, are you and Grape done talking yet?" Tarot asks as pops her head through the gym door. "I believe we are suppose to be cuddling soon." I only realize now that Peanut and I are the only ones still in the gym. Apparently everyone here, excluding Peanut and myself, are ninjas.

"Uh, coming!" Peanut says as a blush appears through his fur. "Enjoy your nap Grape!" He then quickly leaves the gym with Tarot in tow.

Obviously, unlike the last time we all gathered, I know exactly what to do now; nap! I don't hesitate go over to the dorm rooms so that I can get a full nap for once. Oh, even just thinking about it makes ecstatic!

So ecstatic, that I don't even realize I'm about to bump into B until I already have.

"Ow…" I say as I rub my forehead. "Sorry B. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Eh, don't worry about it." She says, getting up and brushing herself off. "I've gotten in worse scrapes than that." She lends me a paw as she asks, "What are you in a hurry for, though?"

"To get a nap that won't be interrupted for once." I say as she lifts me up. "With Peanut being with Tarot for a while, and me being able to lock my dorm room, there is no way for anyone to disrupt it!" I playfully punch toward the ceiling at the last statement.

"Well, great for you!" She replys, giving me a thumbs up.

"Thanks. Seeya!" I say as I walk toward my door, a silly grin on my face.

"Uh, Grape, wait!" B says, causing me to turn around and my smile to shrink. "Um, any chance I could join you?"

...what? "Um, why do you want to take a nap with me?" I ask, more than a little confused.

"I'll be completely honest with you; I lost a bet with Sabrina and now I have to sleep in another room for one night because she has my dorm room key." B quickly explains.

"...You bet your room key?" I question, slightly baffled. "Also, what did you bet on?"

"It was the only thing I could bet!" B answers, waving her arms in the air. "Well, I also I have my cart keys, but there's no way I'm taking the risk of losing those. As for what we bet on, I said that the announcement earlier was going to be them finally admitting that this is the most amazing prank ever, while Sabrina said otherwise. And of course, she was the one that was right."

"You seriously still thought it was a prank?!" I shout. She can't be serious.

"When you've nearly gotten your head chopped off with a hatchet by one of your siblings pretending to be psycho, another singeing off half your fur with a flamethrower, and all of them pretending to actually be dead by someone that broke into our house once, it's hard to tell whether something like this is a prank or not." She answers, her face getting serious.

"O-oh." I say, unsure of how to respond. I knew that the Bigglesworth clan was kinda… odd, but I didn't think they were dangerous, especially to one of their own.

"Eh, it's alright." She says, her serious face going back to a smile. "That was sorta the initiation for joining the family, like what some sports teams do with new members."

"Still, that's pretty harsh for an initiation." I say, a bit of concern in my voice. "You could've gotten seriously hurt."

"Not really, actually. Bigs, the one who threw the hatchet, is actually a bit of a professional at it. I'm actually surprised he isn't here with me." She says. She looks off for a moment after saying the last part, but quickly regains her focus, "Anyway, they all were actually really good at it. They were so professional at it that there was no way I could've actually been hurt, and for the last one, I honestly respected them so much for how good it was that I thought it was alright."

Ok, this is really hard to process. "But, they made you think they were all dead. I would be a little mad, at the very least." I say, still extremely confused.

"Compared to the other two, that was nothing." She responds, folding her arms and putting them behind her head. "At least with the last one I didn't think was going to die. Now, about taking a nap?"

Oh, geez! I completely forgot! I finally get to nap with there being no chance of being interrupted, and I get distracted. Urgh! "Uh, sure, you can join me, I guess."

"Sweet. Thanks." B says as we start to walk to my room. While walking, I notice that all of the name plates for the dorm rooms have a small pixelated version of the owner. Interesting, I guess.

When we get to my room, I use my key to open the surprisingly large door. You'd think they would adjust them for us or something.

When I see the inside, I have to let out a gasp, and so does B.

You'd think Monokuma would've made some of the living conditions horrible to make want leave more, but instead it looks like some royal pet lives here! A human sized bed?! Blankets that look like they're made clouds?! Even a freaking vanity dresser?! (I don't really need a dresser, being a cat that only really wears a collar, but it's still really cool!) And not to mention a frick ton of cat toys?! If I didn't know any better, I would've said that I wandered into one of the movie star pet's rooms. The only problem I have with it is that the wallpaper is really girly, being a bright pink with dark red roses.

"Ge-heez! If I didn't know any better, I would say this is the room of a some prissy spoiled pet." B says while walking in.

"Yeah, that's kinda what I was thinking." I say in response, still in shock a little bit. I walk over the bed and feel the top. Freaking memory foam?! Could this room get any better?!

As I turn to dramatically fall on my bed in a silly way, I see the one thing that reminds me why this place isn't as good as it looks.

On a low hanging shelf, low enough for me to be able to reach, there's what looks to be a flat brown club with what I can only assume to be shark teeth on the sides. That freaking bear!

"Sorry, wait a second." I say as I go toward the shelf and pick up the club.

"Woah woah woah woah!" B says as she backs away from me with her arms up in self defence. "I-if you're gonna do what I think you're gonna do-"

"What you think I'm going to do should be putting this somewhere safe." I interrupt as I'm walking towards the dresser. On top of it are three keys with the labels "M", "B",and "T". Middle, bottom, and top, I presume. I open the bottom drawer, revealing a bunch of copies of my collar. I have no idea why I would need these when I only need one collar, but whatever. I dump them on the floor and put the club in the drawer. I then put the drawer back in its place, lock it, and shove the keys through the small gap so that it's in that bottom drawer, thus making it impossible to get the club without breaking the drawer.

"Oh… well, I feel like a moron." B says, pinching the bridge of her nose with a faint blush on her cheeks.

"It's alright, we all do stupid things in scary situations." I say in an attempt to comfort her. "Remember how I was when we couldn't find Peanut?"

"Remember? That was earlier today." She says while climbing onto the bed, looking a bit calmer. "I don't have short term memory loss, you know."

"Eh, sorry." I say as climb onto the bed as well, not even bothering to get the pillows, just sinking into the memory foam. A thought comes to my head, causing me to say, "B, what are you thinking about the motive?"

B is silent for a while, before saying, "Well, in all honesty, I think it's really stupid. I mean, yeah, living here is definitely going to be hectic with that dumb bear around, but it is nice to have a break from siblings."

"But, there's a chance that you might not get see your family ever again." I point out.

In response, B lets out a hearty laugh, "Seriously?! Like I'm going to let myself be a victim! And I'm not stupid enough to kill someone that's trying to kill me."

"But what if it's one of the wolves? I'm pretty sure that the only one who could hold their own against one of them would be the other." I say before letting out a yawn. I really need to get to sleep after this.

"Then I'll just get the other one to smack some sense into the first. They're family, right? So unless they work together, the other should help." B says before yawning herself. "Can I sleep now? Please?"

"Yeah. You can… sleep… now…" Is what I say before I'm out like a light.

By the time I wake up from my dreamless sleep, I'm actually fully rested for once. I stretch out, causing my back to pop and get most my body feeling better.

"Hey B, how did you-" I start to say, but then I notice that the go-cart racer must've left while I was asleep. Considering she didn't try to kill me, I feel like I got closer to her.

I leave my room for a second to try and find someone and ask what the time is. It's really hard to tell with the lack of windows, and one of the things my room lacked was a clock.

Now that I think about it, what is with the lack of windows? I would understand it if there was something covering them, like some big sheet of metal, but there's not even some sort of indication of them. I know I saw windows when Peanut and I first came to the front, so where did they go?

While I'm lost in thought, I wander into a classroom with dark blue walls, the desks that one of the groups described while in the lunchroom, and hear someone say, "Oh, hey Grape."

I look around and, slightly hidden by a couple of desks in the far right corner, sits Fido, seeming to search for either something invisible or something that's not there anymore.

"Um, hey Fido." I say as walk toward him, then ask awkwardly, "What exactly are you doing?"

"Still trying to look for an exit." He says as he gets from crouching. "I know another group already checked this room, but I just want to be thorough."

"Well, that's understandable. After all, Bino and Duchess were in that group." I joke. "They probably left the searching to Joey and Elaine."

Fido lets out a sigh before saying, "Yeah. Even though he's my brother, I have to admit that Bino is... troublesome at times, and the fact that he got Duchess to be his girlfriend doesn't paint a good image on her."

"Neither does her sour attitude." I say, thinking back to when I first met her. "So, do you need any help?"

Fido looks up at me from another spot he was looking at and asks, "Um, why do you want to search with me? You're kind of close to Sabrina, but we're not really that close."

"Well, we can get close now!" I say as I start to look around myself. "Plus, I think you would prefer having another level-headed person searching with you rather than, like, Pit or Sasha."

"Ok, good point." He says before continuing his searching. We search for a while, looking under all the desks, behind the chalk board, that's detachable for some reason, and under some of the tiles, which are way too loose in all honesty. Of course, we find nothing.

"Jeez, this place just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Fido says while scratching his head.

"I know what you mean," I say as I get up from crouching. "Have you noticed that there aren't any windows? Or anything that would indicate that they were even there? There's also the fact that the dorm rooms are a lot nicer than this. You'd think they would either both be as run down as this or as fancy as that."

"I noticed another thing while walking around; there aren't any stairs at all, or a main entrance." Fido says with a concerned look.

"I understand concern about the main entrance, but who cares if there aren't stairs?" I ask. "It could just be a one story school."

"Because the school is definitely large enough to have more than one floor." He answers, his face getting more serious, "I don't know if you remember how the school looked when you and Peanut saw it, but I know that when I saw it, it had to be more than one floor."

"I guess that makes sense." I say as I sit down. "So, do you have any idea what's going on? Like, if this even is RTS or something? I seriously doubt they would actually do something like this."

"Well, that much is obvious." Fido points out. "But I think it is still the school. Why would it have classrooms, dorm rooms, a gym, a music room, and a drama room otherwise?"

I say, "Touché. So, what happened to all the humans in charge of the school?"

"No idea." Is his response. "I don't think they're the ones running this, since if they wanted to do something like this, they could've done it long before. I could be wrong though. I can't really tell at the moment."

"Well, I don't mean to be rude, but isn't this basically your field of work?" I question.

"Well, sort of." Fido says. "Though sometimes we're called in for a theft or something, we mostly do stuff like sniff for drugs or small things that help the community, like when we cleared the snow when it was tall enough to keep people stuck indoors."

"I guess that makes sense." I say, before another thought pops into my head and I ask, "Wait, what abou-"

*Ding, dong, dong, ding*

Before I can finish my question, an automated bell rings throughout the school, and the monitor in the classroom turns on to show everyone's least favorite high tech build-a-bear reject, holding a can of orange soda.

"Attention all students!" Monokuma says over the intercom. "It is now 10pm, meaning it is officially night time. The water will not be accessible and some rooms will be locked, once the people in them leave!" The last part had a bit of snark in it, almost like it was aimed at me and Fido. "That's all. Good night! Sleep tight! Don't let the bedbugs bite!" And with that, he was gone.

"I guess that's our cue to leave." Fido says as he walks toward the door. "See you around, Grape."

"Alright. Seeya." I say as he leaves. Honestly, getting to know Fido's thought process and hearing him talk about how his job works, I think we're a little closer. I go out of the classroom myself after a couple of seconds pass and go over to the dorms. I may have taken that nap earlier, and I do trust everyone here a lot, I feel like I should be there rather than some other place.

When I arrive, rather than seeing B like I expected since I'm cool with her being in my room, I see Max pacing around in front of my door. When he sees me, he straightens up and clears his throat before saying, "Hey,Grape."

"Hey Max." I say, trying not to let the little bit of confusion show. "Why are you here?"

"To… try and make up with you," is his response. "I gave B my room key so that we could have some alone time."

"Hmm, I guess I've made you suffer long enough," I say. "If you want we could kind of cuddle a bit." He blushes a bit at that statement, getting a laugh out of me. "Come on," I say as I unlock my room. Surprisingly he doesn't let out a gasp at how it looks. I guess his room must be similar.

I climb onto the mattress and Max follows. We just lay down and snuggle for a while, and I just kinda lose track of time. Eventually, I hear a rapid knock at my door. Great. Who could that be. I untangle myself from Max, who has apparently fallen asleep, and go over to answer the door. When I open it, I see Peanut and Tarot, both with panicked looks on their faces, though Tarot is a bit calmer.

I start to say, "Peanut, Tarot, what are you doing? It's the middle of the night! There's no reason you should be-"

"Someone might be dead!" Peanut loudy blurts out.

What.

"W-what do you mean someone might be dead? Where?!" I shout.

"Drama room," Tarot quickly says. "We need to hurry. There might still be time to save them."

"Then why aren't the others up!" I yell. "I'm pretty sure Fido's a lot better at saving lives than I am."

"What's all this yelling about?" I hear from behind me. I turn to see that Maxwell has gotten up and is rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Grape, what's going on? *Yawn* Why are you two at the door?"

"Just, please, come on already!" Peanut says as he grabs my paw and tries to drag me away. "You're the first person I thought of going to and we're running out of time! We need to go!"

"Alright, alright!" I saw, taking my paw back. "Let's go, then." I take off running, trying to get to the drama room with Peanut and Tarot not far behind.

"Hey, wait up!" I hear Max call. I start to hear thumps that I assume are his footsteps as we try to get through the Labyrinth-like hallways. Eventually, all four of us are in front of the drama room, hearts pounding at fifty miles per hour and breathing like we ran a 10k marathon.

"I… am still… in the dark… about this…" Max says though short gasps.

"Someone… in trouble!" Peanut manages to get out.

Almost automatically, Max's eyes grow wide, and he somehow gets enough energy to jump and open the door. What we see causes all of us to gasp.

There was not a speck of blood on the hardwood floor, but you could still tell that the unmoving body was dead. With their collar removed and a rope around their neck, is was quite obvious. Seeing the corpse, though, it could only raise one question.

Who could kill this poor rabbit in such a way?

A.N.: What's this?! A murder before the first Special Event can occur!? Okay, there are two reasons for that. First, to be honest, I kinda don't have a lot of ideas for Special Events, so decided to skip the first one. Second, with the way I structured Grape's day, and for when I planned for the first murder to be, it could really only happen this way, or the day is extremely long, or Peanut just teleports into Grape's room or something to shorten her nap. I figured that this is the one that makes the most sense. And if any of you couldn't figure it out for some reason, yes, Zach is as dead as a doornail. Sorry if you were a fan of him. If it makes you feel better, I'm having to kill off a bunch of characters that I like, so you're not alone in the suffering. Sorry for taking so long to update. I wish there was a chance that it wouldn't take that long for the next one, but my family is going to Disneyland this week, so I'll be pretty busy. Anyway, till next time, seeya!


	4. Chapter 1: Bump In The Night Part 3

Part Three

*Bing, bong, bong, bing*

"Attention all students!" Monokuma exclaims from the intercom. "A body has been discovered in the drama room! After a brief period of investigation, we will hold a class trial! So get your lazy butts in gear and start searching!"

I can only barely hear the announcement that was just made over the blood pumping through my body. Lying in front of me, Peanut, Tarot, and Max is the body of Zachary Arbelt. You could almost mistake him for being alive, if not for his wide, unblinking eyes and the rope around his neck. None of us even move an inch at first. How can we? I don't think any of us were expecting something like this to happen, and at the very least not to Zach. He wasn't everyone's favorite, but he was by no means the most hated. So, why-

"What the howl happened?!" Someone screeches from behind us. We turn to see that Fido has lead the others over, and unsurprisingly they seem as shocked as we are.

"Z-Zach… Zach is-" Peanut starts to say before Tarot cuts him off.

"It seems that Zach was murdered." She blurts out. She walks over to his body as she continues, "Strangled, by the looks of it."

I think she's back to the 'Not good with emotions' part of herself. Her face still shows some shock, but it's a lot calmer now, and her voice is at her usual tone. I have a good feeling that someone is going to object to her calmness in three, two, one…

"H-how can you be so calm!? Z-Zach is d-d-dead!" There we go. Sasha is the one who wails this.

"Easy. Because if we don't at least try to stay calm, we will all be in danger." Is Tarot's response. Wait, how could it-

"Hey, stop stealing my lines!" Monokuma shouts over the intercom. "And also, I need you all to congregate in the gym now. I do blame myself for not saying that earlier."

"Oh, what does that stupid bear what now?!" Bino shouts out in frustration, though there is a hint of fear in his voice as well. All of us quickly head over to the gym, the only one seeming to know what will being said being Tarot. How could we be in any more danger than we already are with this stupid murder rule?! Is… THAT not enough?!

When we finally arrive at the gym, we see that Monokuma is already on the podium, and he looks like he's doing a stupid looking jig while doing so. When he notices us, he stops and says, "Well, congratulations guys! I knew it would happen eventually, but the first night?! Bravo!"

"Oh, shut it!" I yell. This thing is still scary as heck, but by now my rage has gotten to a new height. "Just tell us what this 'class trial' is and what the point of investigating is!"

"Alright, alright. Sheesh, don't get your nonexistent panties in a bunch." Monokuma says while putting his nubby paws on his hips. Oh, I so wanna rip him a new one. "So, the thing is about murder at this school, you can just commit murder and get out scot free. You have to make sure that nobody finds out it was you during, da da da daaaaaaaa… the class trial! In a class trial, you need to figure out who the killer is. You can figure out how they did it as well, but I don't really care in all honesty. Anyway, after I give you guys a little something to help, you'll be given time to look for clues around the school. It may help, it may not, I dunno. If you find out who the killer is, they get punished and everyone here gets to go back to their semi-peaceful lives in here. If you pick the wrong person though, everyone besides the killer is punished, and they solely get out alone!"

"And what is this punishment?" Elaine asks, her face looking more irritated than scarred, for some reason. Why are there so many weirdos here?!

"Death." Tarot says, completely calm.

"FOR PETE'S SAKE STOP STEALING MY LINES!" Monokuma shouts from the top of his lungs, er, volume, since he's a robot. He calms down a bit and says, "She's right, though. Murderer gets found out, they get the axe. They don't get found out, everyone else dies."

That statement leaves us in silence. This time, though, someone is not going to deal with it.

"To heck with that!" Max shouts. He apparently weaved through the crowd and got to the front while I wasn't paying attention. "Why should we participate in this stupid trial if we could die from it?!"

"Uh, because I say so!" Monokuma yells from the podium, leaning forward a little bit. "And what I say is law here!"

"A-and if we don't want to b-be in this t-t-trial?" Sasha nervously asks.

"Then you'll be very grumpy at the trial." Is Monokuma's answer. "You see, I don't exactly care about what you want."

"Well, I'm not going." Max says, back straighter than usual. "I don't want to get involved in something like this, and unless you want to blow up half of us, and I doubt you do, I think you won't do anything about it." It's only then that I notice that Max has more than half of the pets here near him; the ferrets, the wolves, the trio of brothers, Duchess, Sasha, and B.

"Max, stop it." I say, more than a bit worried. "We may sort of know him, but for all we know, he may gladly kill us all off if given the chance!"

"Sorry, Grape, but I'm standing my grou-fijsht!" Max starts to say before something causes him to drop out my sight. The pets that are around him quickly back away to show that he's fallen into a trap door, but is still clinging to the edge of the opening for dear life.

"Max!" I shout as I run toward the trap door.

""Nuh, uh, uh!"" Monokuma says as he pops up in front of me. "What's down there is for Max only, and he needs to go there now! Try to save him, then you'll both die!" He shouts. Oh, I hate him so-wait, what was with his voice? My eyes dart to the stage again to that the Monokuma that was up there is still up there. Great, so they can have multiple come out at once. Fan-fricken-tastic.

"Oh come on!" Max shouts from the trap door opening. "Where does this even go?! And why me?!"

""I chose you because you were being annoying."" The two Monokuma's say in sync. ""As to where it goes…"" The one here on the gym floor suddenly jumps really high and maneuvers himself to land on Max, causing him to lose his grip and fall, electing a shriek from both me and Max and gasps from several others. ""Is for me to know, and for you to find out!"" They say with a cackle.

"Max!" I shout as I run toward the trap door again, going past the Monokuma that had landed on the floor. I can only watch as he falls into the abyss. I angrily turn to the closer Monokuma and ask, "Where in tabby's name did you just take him?!"

""Oh, nowhere special,"" the Monokumas say, still in sync, ""Just my little torture chamber!""

"T-torture chamber?! He's going th-there just because he annoyed you?!" Peanut shouts from behind me.

""Pretty much!" The Monokumas exclaim joyfully. ""Don't worry, as long as he doesn't do anything stupid, he'll be fine and released sometime after the trial! Probably missing a limb or getting major psychological trauma, but alive!""

"Fair enough." Duchess says, face neutral.

"S-seriously?! Y-y-you're just gonna accept it l-like that!?" Res says in what could be considered a shout for him.

"Dwelling on it is not going to help us during the investigation." Duchess says with a bit of snark in her tone. "Now, I believe you said you had something to give us after the explanation?"

"Oh, right!" The podium Monokuma says. He starts to make a humming noise, and suddenly stops as a ping could be heard by all the present E-handbooks. "There! Now you all have the super-duper, handy-dandy Monokuma file one! It has *most* of the details you need to know about this murder!"

I grab my handbook out of my collar and quickly tap the file that looks like an app. This is what it says:

Victim: Zachary Arbelt

Time of Death: 12:03pm

Injuries: Strangulation bruises from the rope found around his neck, along with some large bruises at the back of his head.

Misc. Details: The murder was committed in the drama room where the body was found, and the victim is missing his collar.

Wow. I didn't think it could be this useful.

""Another thing,"" the Monokumas say, going back to talking in sync, ""You can record testimonies using the recorder built into the handbook, and take pictures of physical evidence with the built in camera. They'll go straight to the second part of the file; the evidence! Now, get to searching!"" The Monokuma on the podium then disappears behind it again while the second one jumps down the trap door, which closes right after he's gone through it.

"I'm gonna kill that thing if I ever get the chance." I say, still majorly angry at that stupid devil bear.

"Well, you're probably gonna have to wait a while for that to ever happen, if it even does happen." Fido says, still looking at the file from Monokuma. "For now, we have look for clues."

"Um, before we start," Joey says at a slightly lower volume than his usual tone, "I want to say that I think some people should guard the body."

"Why?" Sasha asks, a question mark practically visible above her head.

"Well, if I was the murderer, I think I would want to get rid of as much evidence as I could." Joey points out. "That room probably has the most evidence in it."

"And what if the guard is the murderer?" Keene questions. "That gives them the perfect opportunity to destroy evidence."

"Why not have have to people guard it, then?" Sabrina says. "That way neither could destroy anything."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Rock states. "How about Elaine and Lucretia? I think you two would be the most trustworthy for guarding something."

"Alright." Elaine says with a shrug.

"I guess. I don't know how good I would be at investigating, anyway." Lucretia says, looking off to the side at the last part.

"I think I be joining you both." Fido says, finally putting the handbook away. "Though it's not usually in my field of work, I'm going to try and do an autopsy. I know it says how he died in the file, but with that stupid bear, we never know."

"So the rest of us are just suppose to search around the rest of the school?" Fiddler says, both a bit of fear and a bit of anger in her voice. "That's a lot of room to search."

"Well, sorry, sweetie, but it's not like there's much else we can do." Pit says with a shrug. Only now do I notice that his diamond jacket has been replaced with a hot pink leopard print robe with light pink feathers lining the inside. This guy goes overboard for everything he wears, doesn't he?

Everyone starts to leave the gym then, until all that's left is me, Peanut, Tarot, and Res. I decide to talk with Peanut and Tarot first, since they're the closest proximity wise to me.

"Hey Peanut, Tarot. Any chance you two have any important info for this… situation?" I ask.

"Not at the moment. Sorry." Peanut says, still a little shaken by the looks of it. He turns to Tarot as he asks, "See anything useful, Tarot?"

"No. Sorry." She says as she opens her eyes, which were closed. "The past is foggy, and in the future I can only see blood." Well, ain't that great to hear?

"What about… um, I think alibis is the right word? Where were you during the murder?" I ask. I don't suspect them at all, especially not Peanut, but the others might not have the same line of thinking.

"We were with each other." Tarot states. "Peanut didn't feel comfortable sleeping by himself at the time, so I was with him."

"Y-yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it." Peanut says, a slight blush now painted on his cheeks. "What about you, Grape?"

"I was with Max at the time." I answer. Not very good considering Max is now in some sort of torture chamber, getting who knows what done to him. "Oh, I should probably record your alibi." I say as I grab my handbook from my collar. "Could you repeat it please?"

"Certainly. Peanut and were together at the time of the murder due to Peanut having trouble sleeping." Tarot says after I get the thing into record mode.

Once I hit the stop recording button, a small ping can be heard from it, also coming from Tarot's and Peanut's.

Tarot's Testimony: Tarot and Peanut had been together at the time of the murder due to Peanut having issues sleeping.

So everyone gets to know every clue that's recorded. Makes sense.

"Well, I guess I'll let you guys go." I say as I start to walk away. "Good luck investigating."

"W-wait!" Peanut stutters. He turns to Tarot, who gives him a nod, before saying, "Um, do you think we could join you? Three heads are better than one, really."

"Um, alright." I answer. "Don't expect any censors on this subject, though. If we're going to figure out who...murdered Zach, we won't be able to skim on any of the details."

"I-It's alright. I...I think I can handle it." Peanut says, struggling a bit to get it out. "I did manage to not scream at the sight of the body, which even surprised me."

"And I'd prefer for none of the details to be hidden from me." Tarot suddenly says. She starts to walk in Res' direction as she continues, "Now, I believe Res might have some useful information."

Peanut and I quickly follow after her as Res notices us coming closer to him. "O-oh, um, h-hey guys." He quietly stutters out. "How are you f-feeling, Grape?"

"Fine, mostly. Just praying that Max didn't lose his brain on the way through the trapdoor." I say, a bit of worry going into my tone. "But, I can't focus on that at the moment. What I need to focus on is asking this; do you have any sort of alibi for the time of death?"

"Uh, n-no." He kind of bluntly states. "I-I was asleep at the time. I d-don't really have anything to prove it, though. I-I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I'm sure a lot of us don't have any good alibis. Do you have any sort of useful information at all?"

"Um, well, sort of. When most of us were leaving our rooms from the announcement, I n-noticed that Keys, Fiddler, B, Rock, and Lucretia ended up joining us after we left the dorm area. I d-didn't say anything at the t-t-time because of, well, the announcement."

I suddenly hear a click from my side, and a ping from the handbook as Tarot says, "Thank you, Res."

Res' Testimony: According to Res, Keys, Fiddler, B, Rock, and Lucretia had join the group after they left the dorm room area.

"Um, well, I'm glad I w-was helpful, even if it was only a little bit." Res states as he scratches the back of his head, a small smile on his face.

"Well, I assume you want to join our investigation as well?" I ask as I shove the handbook back in my collar.

"N-not really, a-a-actually. I'm…not really sure how I could do any of this, and I don't think I would be that good at investigating, so...I don't really know what to do," He gave a small sheepish smile at the last part. "I w-would probably be a hindrance, anyway."

"But you write the Pridelands books. I believe those have quite a bit of mystery." Tarot points out.

"Th-that's kind of different. There, the m-mysterious are usually involving the storyline and effect it greatly, and I'm pretty sure that's d-different from a murder mystery. Plus,I haven't really delved into the mind of a m-m-murderer that much in the books."

"Maybe you could go to your room, then?" Peanut inquiries. "With the locking doors, I'm pretty sure it's one of the safest places to be."

"G-good idea," Res says as he starts to walk toward the door. "See you l-later, and good luck!" And like that, he's gone. I manage to stifle a laugh at the comment, remembering that, supposedly, good luck was the reason I'm here, and all this 'good luck' had gotten me so far was a ticket to play the worst game ever, the chance to see Zach dead, and seeing poor Max go to a torture chamber. If anything, I should be here for having bad luck.

"So, where do you think we should start searching?" Peanut asks, breaking my line of thought. I look to see that both him and Tarot are staring at me.

"Well, how about the drama room?" I suggest. "That was where he was murdered."

"Alright, lead the way!" Peanut says with a bit of enthusiasm. Man, I'd have my work cut out for me if I had to kill his spirit. We leave the gym and, using our map, get to the drama room quicker than we had the first time. Opening the door, we see the same light brown wood paneling walls, clothing racks with a ton of costumes, masks lined up on the walls, and, sadly, Zach's corpse. This time, though, Fido is crouched over his body, with Elaine and Lucretia not that far away, Elaine looking away with disinterest on her face, and Lucretia staring at the body intently, a small frown on her muzzle. Before I can do anything, another ping comes from the handbook.

Zach's Collar: Zach's collar was found in front of his dorm room, without any visible damage done to it, almost like a sign of respect.

Not sure who made that one, but that's not important right now. I keep the handbook out and go to the record feature as I walk toward Fido.

"Hey Fido. How's the autopsy going?" I ask, a little emotionlessly.

"A little iffy, to be honest." Fido replies, not even looking up from Zach's body.

"What do you mean by that?" Peanut asks, raising a finger to his chin.

"It means that, though the injuries that the Monokuma File stated are true, I'm not sure what the cause of death is."

"But it says the cause of death in the Monokuma File," I point out. "Strangulation," I point at the rope still around Zach's before continuing, "Probably with this rope."

"But here's the problem; I'm 90% percent sure that it wasn't strangulation that killed him," Fido shifts the fur around Zach's neck before saying, "The very low severity of the bruising makes it look like the person didn't put that much effort into it, and the fact that there isn't any petechiae prominent in his eyes suggests that it might have been done post mortem."

"Post mortem?" Peanut asks.

"Petechiae?" I ask.

Fido points at Peanut and says, "After death," then at me, "It's basically something that comes onto your face and into your eyes when you get strangled, and it usually looks like blood when it's in their eyes. Just take a closer look and you'll see what I mean."

I tentatively crouch down and the neck and, sure enough, the bruising is only a red mark on his neck. Heck, it isn't even that red. More like a really light pink. I take a glance at his eyes and see that Fido was right there as well. Thanks to his eyes being wide open, I can easily see that there isn't any petech-whatever in either of them.

"Well, what about the bruises on his head?" Peanut points out. "Could that have been the thing that killed him?"

"Not a chance," Fido says before he takes off his sunglasses and starts to clean them. "If it had been blunt force trauma, then there would actually be blood here. Plus, I already checked there and the bruising would've only been bad enough to knock him out at most. Not to mention it looks a lot more like a bruise from a punch rather than something that could kill him."

"So, what could he have died from?" I ask, getting a bit more worried.

He puts his sunglasses back on before saying, "Well, with the lack of fatal injuries on the outside, I can only assume it was something on the inside that killed him."

"So, like, poison?" I ask.

"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that would've done damage to the inside of his body, like maybe his lungs filling with blood or something. I'm just not sure, though," He sighed before whispering, "If only this was in my field of work…"

Fido's Autopsy: Supposedly, neither of the bruises on Zach's neck nor on his head were fatal, leaving the real cause of death unknown.

"Well, are there any other details you can give us?" I ask with a hopeful look.

"Afraid not. You could try Elaine or Lucretia, though. They may have information I don't have." Right. They were so silent that I forgot that they were even there.

"Alright. One thing first, though." I say before taking a closer look at the rope around Zach's neck. It's made of metal and the ends are frayed, like it took more than one attempt to cut through it. Before I can think about it that much, there's a flash of light from my side. I turn to see Peanut with his handbook out.

"I thought we should take a picture of it." He says quickly. A ping sounds from the handbooks before I can respond.

Rope: The rope found around Zach's neck. It's made of metal, and the ends are frayed in a way that suggests the one that cut it had tried multiple times to cut it.

"Couldn't've worded it any better myself," I say before exiting the evidence section and walking to the two wolves. With their attention not on us, I try to get it by saying, "Hey Elaine, Lucretia."

It quickly works, getting the attention of both of them and causing their faces to soften. "Hey, guys. You doing alright?" Lucretia asks.

"As good as we can be when we know there's the chance we could die if we don't find Zach's murderer," I reply. "I don't suppose you two have any info on anything important?"

"Afraid not. Sorry," Lucretia says while looking down with a sad look on her face. "And sadly, I can now definitely say that there is no escape from here."

"How can you tell this already?" Peanut asks, a finger to his chin.

"I did a search of the the whole school myself, and sadly, found nothing." She lets out a sigh before saying, "It seems that, unless we do kill, there's no chance of us getting out."

"Yes, because that's what we needed to hear," I say as I facepawlm. "What about you, Elaine?"

"Sadly, I don't have any sort of believable alibi," Elaine says, her attention shifting to the wall with the masks and a few clothing racks near it. "However, I can tell you this; it seems that there is a missing mask and a missing costume."

"Really?" I ask as I look to the wall. Sure enough, in the line of masks, between a hockey mask and a ghost face mask, there's an empty space, and between a green and red striped sweater with '124' on the shoulder and a light green jumpsuit with '126' on the shoulder, the '125' outfit is noticeably missing.

"Peanut, can you-" Before I can even finish, the flash of the camera on Peanut's handbook goes off and the ping from the handbooks, which is already becoming too familiar, goes off.

Mask & Costume: A mask and a costume are missing from the drama room. Their whereabouts are unknown.

"Alright," I say as I close the evidence file. "So, any other sug-" Before I can finish, multiple pings erupt from the handbook as new pieces of evidence are shown.

Fallen Planet: Pluto from the giant model of the solar system fell at some point in the night. It has left a noticeable crater.

Cleaned Shelf: The top of one of the warehouse shelving cases in the storage room has been almost completely cleaned off, and much of the junk that was on it has been left on the floor.

An Unknown Sound: Several students report hearing a loud banging sound some time after Zach's murder, while others report never hearing a thing.

Dang. Three in a row.

"I think it would be wise to see this evidence for ourselves." Tarot says, getting me to jump a bit.

"Yeah, you're probably right," I say, giving her my attention. "We should probably check out Zach's collar too."

"Indeed," She says as she starts to walk to the door. "Let's not waste any time."

Peanut and I follow her out the door and through the hallways in silence until we reach the dorms. There we see Sasha sitting against the door to her room, head on her knees, with Pit attempting to comfort her.

"Um, Sasha, how are you feeling?" Peanut asks, putting a paw on her shoulder. She looks up at him, revealing tear tracks going down her muzzle.

"I don't know…" She says, leaning her head back against the door. "Sad and scared mostly. And wishing Kevin were here."

"Well, sorry about that," I say, crouching down next to her. "I don't suppose either of you have alibis, do you?"

"Alibis?"

"Where we were when Zach was murdered, and if there's anyone that can prove it," Pit says, trying to fill her in. "And neither of us do, I'm afraid. I'm sure most people don't have one for a little after midnight. The most helpful thing we know about is Zach's collar over there." He points to Zach's door, where his collar lies in front of. "Other than that, I'm afraid there isn't much here."

Well, I guess coming here might've been a bit of a waste. That's what I think before I see Max's door.

"Um, guys?" I say, trying to get Tarot and Peanut's attention. "Do you think I could be alone for a second?"

"Um, sure, Grape." Peanut answers, sounding a bit confused.

I quickly go to Max's door, finding that it was left unlocked. Odd, I think, but then I remember that the rules from the handbook said something about all the rooms being unlocked for an investigation.

I go into the room to see something slightly surprising. Max's room looks almost exactly like mine, the only difference being the wallpaper, it being baby blue and white with stripes. Other than that, it's exactly, the same, from the useless vanity dresser, to the shelf where a weapon should've been.

Wait, what?

I take a second glance at the shelf. For some reason, whatever weapon Max had isn't there. Maybe he put in the dresser like I did? I quickly check all three drawers to only see collars in each of them. If it's not here, where could it be? I feel like this is a clue, but I'm not sure. If only I could be sur-

"Hiya!"

"Gah!" I can't help but shout as Monokuma pops up right behind me. "What the heck do you want?!"

"Oh, nothing!" He says in a way to try and sound innocent. "Just wanna tell you that...You won!"

"...what?" I ask, more confused than I've ever been at this school.

"You won!" He repeats. "And by that I mean, thanks to a random drawing, you get a special advantage for the trials! Looks like you really do have good luck!"

"And this advantage is?" I ask, just wanting him out as soon as possible.

A ping comes from my handbook as he says "You get to have some pieces of evidence be kept a secret! That way, if you find any evidence, but you're not sure if you want to share it, it can be a secret!"

I take out the handbook to see a button added to the evidence side file with 'Secret?' as the name.

"So, I'm the only one who gets this?" I ask, eyebrow raised.

"Yup! You and only you gets to have secret evidence! Everyone else's evidence is out and open to the public!" He lets out a cackle before saying, "Welp, have fun!" and disappears.

Well, I guess this could be useful, I think as I hit the button, go to the camera, and take a picture.

(Secret) Max's Missing Weapon: Max's weapon seems to have disappeared, and it's whereabouts are unknown.

After finishing that, I leave Max's room to see Peanut and Tarot waiting for me. Sasha and Pit are gone, though.

"Hey Grape. What took you so long?" Peanut asks.

"Just trying to calm my mind, really." I lie. I love Peanut, but I'm not going show this to him at the moment. I'll show it to everyone at the trial, if I need to, but not at the moment. "How about we try heading over to the storage room now? I still think we should see the evidence that was found there."

"As do I." Tarot says. We then head through these hallways, again in silence, to find the storage room. It's a simple grey concrete room, with large warehouse shelving cases covered in all sorts of items: canned or bagged foods, tissues, toilet paper, blankets, pillows, you name it, it's there. Some of the things in here are other people, those people being Rock, Lana, Keys, Fiddler, Duchess, and Bino, the last two standing noticeably far away.

"Oh, hey Grape, Peanut, Tarot." Fiddler says halfheartedly. "I assume you're here to see Pluto and the shelf that has been cleaned?"

"We'd appreciate it, yes." I answer. She beckons a finger at us and we follow her and keys to a farther back part of the room. There we see the solar system model that was talked about before, and we especially take notice of the model of Pluto on the floor in a crater.

"Huh. Well, at least it was easy to find." Peanut comments as we circle around it. "So, what about the shelf?"

"Right behind you." Keys says while he points behind us. We turn and look up to see the top shelf of the shelving case picked clean. By the looks of it, it's close to where Pluto was hanging before it fell, considering its distance to the crater.

"So, how do you think the planet fell?" I ask, still looking up at the shelf.

"Well, obviously the rope was cut," Fiddler says, sounding a bit annoyed. "I will admit, though, I am surprised that they managed to cut through metal rope, and I honestly didn't know it could be frayed." What.

"Did you say a frayed metal rope?" I ask as I quickly turn around, Tarot and Peanut joining me in shock.

"Um, yeah," Fiddler says, now confused. "You can see for yourself here."

We quickly go up to the dwarf planet to see that there is a metal rope attached to it, and the end of it is frayed, just like the other rope we found…

"Well, I think we know where the rope came from now." Tarot says, her face returning to its usual stoic expression.

"W-wait, are you saying wh-what I th-think you're saying?!" Keys says, starting to panic.

"Yeah, this rope was probably used on Zach," I answer. "But maybe we could stay away from that right now? I think I would prefer hearing about the 'Unknown Sound' at the moment, if either of you happened to hear it."

"Um, alright," Fiddler says, looking a little flustered now over the situation with the rope. "Well, it was sometime after the midnight. Me and Keys were in the music room, trying to relax by playing a song, when suddenly, there was a huge booming noise, almost like something exploding. Now that I think about it, it was probably this thing, but it still really freaked us out. The others that we know heard it were Rock, B, and Lucretia." Huh, that's another similarity those five have in common. I wonder what it means…

"So, do you guys have any other places we can search?" Peanut says, breaking my line of thought. "I'm just not really sure where else we should go."

As a response, my stomach growls loudly, getting a blush out of me and reminding me that I haven't even eaten anything all day. "C-could we go to the cafeteria?"

As a surprising answer, Peanut's stomach growled back, getting him to blush as well. "Y-yes, we can."

Tarot let's out a sigh before saying, "I don't see why not."

As we leave the storage room, Peanut waves to everyone there, and I say, "Thanks Keys, Fiddler."

While in the hallway, for the most part, it's silence yet again, until Peanut somberly asks, "So, who you think did it?"

"Oh, well…" I can't help but scratch the back of my head as I say this. "I'm... not sure at the moment. Maybe we should wait 'till the trial to discuss this?"

"I agree," Tarot says, emotionless yet again. "Now is the time for investigating, not the time for accusations."

"Alright." Peanut says as he turns his gaze to the floor. I'd let out a sigh if I wasn't kinda surprised it was Peanut who had asked that question. I would've expected Tarot to, but not Peanut. Is this place already changing him…?

When we arrive at the cafeteria, we see that we're the only ones there. No one else has a good reason to be here, I guess. Peanut and I go straight to the kitchen and he grabs a small bag of canine cibble while I go for right for a small citty cibble bag. While grabbing it, though, I notice something...off about the stove.

"Um, guys?" I say in attempt to get Peanut and Tarot's attention. "There's something...weird about this stove."

"Weird like what?" Peanut asks, about to leave the kitchen, but then turns around.

"Well, it's kind of dirtier, don't you think?" I ask, pointing out that the top was blackened when the rest was white.

"I believe that is from ash." Tarot says, getting me to jump again at her sudden appearance. "It looks as if something was burned here, but rather than clean up the ashes completely, they only spread them around. It also looks as if the object was quite large."

"Yeah, I guess you could describe it that way."

Ashes: There are ashes on the stove that suggest that the culprit might have burned something on it.

"Anything else looks off, or can we eat now?" Peanut asks, already starting to open the bag.

"Just one thing," I say as I point to the gap between the stove and a fridge. In it, there is a dark red knob-like thing sticking out. "Any idea what this is?"

"I have one," Tarot says, her face going from stoic to a bit of worry as she starts to walk over. "But it isn't very good," She suddenly grabs it and pulls with all her strength, revealing it to be a slightly curved short sword, the red thing being the handle. "I was afraid of this." Tarot says sullenly.

"But, why is there a sword here?!" Peanut shouts. "There wasn't even any sort of stab wound!"

"I'm...not sure…" I say to Peanut as I start to get the handbook. "But I do know this: it has to be involved with this murder."

Sword: A sword found in the kitchen, in the gap between a fridge and the stove. Given the injuries that was on the body, it's involvement is unknown.

*Bing, bong, bong, bing*

A chill goes down my spine as that bell goes off again, and Monokuma appears on the screen and says, "Eh, I'm getting bored, so, it's class trial time! Get your furry butts over to gymnasium and I'll take care of the rest!" And with that, the screen went off.

"Th-the gym?" Peanut stutters out as he puts the canine cibble on a counter. "Wh-why there?"

"I am not sure," Tarot says, her face still showing worry, but her voice going stoic again, "But I believe we should not waste time getting there." She shoves the sword back between the gap before quietly leaving the kitchen. Peanut and I follow her through the door and out the cafeteria, into the hallways. Luckily, it doesn't take us that long. In fact, we're some of the first people here, the only people beating us here being Fido, Sabrina, B, Lucretia, and Elaine, all of them sitting on the wooden bleachers, the first and the last pair talking to themselves quietly. Rather than try and start any conversations, we just sit on the bleachers in silence and wait for everyone else to come in. Eventually they all trickle in, slowly but surely, with Pit being the final person to arrive.

"Jeez!" Monokuma says as he jumps out from behind the podium again, "If you had taken any longer, I would've just executed you and gotten on with the trial!"

In, response, Pit shrieks and hides behind Fido, who had gotten up from sitting when Pit arrived. "Cut to the chase, Monokuma," He says, taking a defensive stance, "Is the trial starting now or not?"

"It will soon!" he says as he gets off the podium and goes to the side of the stage. It looks like he opens a small compartment and presses a button.

Suddenly, the bleachers start slowly to retract, causing everyone on them to quickly vacate them. Once everyone is off, though, the bleachers slam against the wall, and start to separate at the middle, revealing two large red doors that look like they're made of velvet.

"And what is this?" Duchess asks, annoyed.

"This is the elevator to the trial room!" Monokuma says while jumping over to the door. "And the elevator itself will be here in three, two, one…"

A ding came from the doors before they opened up, revealing the slightly large, old looking metal elevator. Though it'll definitely be crowded, it looks like we all could fit in it.

"Alright, in you go!" Monokuma says as he starts shoving people towards the elevator. "I've waited long enough for this trial to start, and I'm not gonna wait any longer! Go! Go!"

Eventually everyone is in the elevator. I'm at the back right corner, when facing the elevator, and Keys, Peanut, and B are the only ones near me that I can see.

"Alright. I'll see you all in the trial room!" Monokuma says before letting out a cackle and disappearing. Right after he leaves, the doors close and the elevator starts to descend.

The entirety of the ride down is spent in silence, the only sound coming from the elevator as we go lower and lower. I try to send reassuring looks to Keys, Peanut, and B , trying to make it look like everything is going to be alright. I get mixed reactions; Keys looks very worried and still a little flustered, B is emotionless, and Peanut is the only one trying to look positive, giving me a sad smile. I can't help but think, though; will it be alright? Will we be able to find Zach's killer? I can't help but let out a sigh, thinking about weather the end of this will be a class trial to live, or a class trial to die.

A.N.: *Takes a deep breath* I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry that it took so long to make this chapter! I swear that I really wanted to write it sometimes, but rather than actually write it, I would just do some stupid thing that I could do at literally any other time. I don't know why I kept doing it, but I just did. So, again, sorry. Now, onto the story; we are finally getting into the nitty gritty of Dangan Ronpa, investigations and trials! I really hope you enjoy the investigation, and when the time comes, the first part of the trial. I admit that I worked hard on this, so again, please enjoy. Until next time, seeya!


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